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CHARLESTON 



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St. Michael's Church 



CHARLESTON 



THE PLACE AND THE PEOPLE 



BY 



MRS. ST. JULIEN RAVENEL 

AUTHOR OF "LIFE AND LETTERS OF ELIZA PINCKNEY, 1 
"LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LOWNDES " 



WITH ILLUSTKATIONS BY 
VERNON HOWE BAILEY 



Nefo gorfc 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 

1906 

All rights reserved 






UBR*RY P* CONGRESS 
IwoOoote* Keceiwed 

NOV 20 1906 

CLASS /( AAd NO, 



Copyright, 1906, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1906. 



Nortooot) $tejss 

J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



PREFACE 

This book has not the slightest pretension to be the 
continuous history of the City of Charleston. 

The writer has simply chosen from the story of its two 
hundred and fifty years such events as seem to her to 
have had most to do in shaping the fortunes of the men 
who made the town, or best to illustrate the character of 
their children who have lived in it. 

What that fortune and character were, it is to be hoped 
the book may show. The writer has made no attempt to 
judge her people ; has only tried to draw them as they 
appeared to themselves and to their contemporaries. 

With this view she has used, wherever possible, the 
accounts of the actors in the drama, or of those who knew 
them best, — the earliest histories and memoirs to be 
found, especially the publications of the Hon. William A. 
Courtenay, and of the Historical Society, of South Caro- 
lina, the " Shaftesbury Papers," and others. 

She is under great obligations to friends who have 
assisted her with letters or information in their possession, 
— to Mrs. Julius Hey ward of Middleton Place; to Mrs. 
John Kinloch (daughter of the historian and novelist of 
Carolina, W. Gilmore Simms) ; to Miss Pringle, Miss Alston 
and Miss Conner; to the Hon. James Simons, Vice Presi- 
dent-General of the Cincinnati; to Captain Thomas and 
Captain C. C. Pinckney; to Dr. Henry Middleton Fisher; 
of Philadelphia; to D. Huger Bacot, Esq.; to Professor 



VI PREFACE 

Yates Snowden, University of South Carolina; and to 
Theodore D. Jervey, Esq. Also to Miss R. M. Pringle, 
Miss R. P. Ravenel, and others who have recalled to her 
the tales and legends of bygone days. These latter, when 
resting on tradition only, are introduced by " there was a 
story" or "the legend was." 

It is hardly necessary to mention the extraordinary 
obligation which every student of the Annals of Carolina 
must be under to her chief historian, the late General 
Edward McCrady. 

For the chapter entitled " Confederate Charleston," the 
authorities are the "Life of General Beauregard," by 
Alfred Roman, papers published in the " Year Books of 
Charleston," and the " Defence of Charleston Harbour," 
by John Johnson, engineer in charge, — now rector of 
St. Philip's. 

For the reminiscent tone which has crept into the last 
chapters, the writer apologizes. She could not write 
otherwise. 

HARRIOTT HORRY (RUTLEDGE) RAVENEL. 



Charleston, South Carolina, 
June 20, 1906. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

His Most Sacred Majesty. The Lords Proprietors . 1 

CHAPTER II 
The Founding of the City. The Coming of the Hugue- 
nots 13 

CHAPTER III 

The Murder of the Scots. Intolerance .... 26 

CHAPTER IV 
Church Acts. The Country for the Queen ... 37 

CHAPTER V 

TUSCARORAS AND YeMASSEES 59 

CHAPTER VI 
The Conquest of the Pirates 69 

CHAPTER VII 
The King against the Lords. The Building of St. 

Philip's 83 

CHAPTER VIII 
General Oglethorpe and St. Augustine. The Reverend 

George Whitfield 105 

vii 



Vlll CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IX 

PAGE 

Governor Glenn's Picture of Carolina .... 117 

CHAPTER X 
Attakullakulla. The Stamp Act 138 

CHAPTER XI 

Governor Lord Charles Montagu. Gathering of the 

Storm 164 

CHAPTER XII 
State Government Established. The First Shot Fired 202 

CHAPTER XIII 
Battle of Fort Moultrie 230 

CHAPTER XIV 
Prevost's Raid. Siege and Fall of Charleston . . 249 

CHAPTER XV 
The Captured City. Marion's Men 275 

CHAPTER XVI 

Execution of Colonel Hayne. Deliverance . . . 314 

CHAPTER XVII 
Restoration. Washington and La Fayette . . . 337 

CHAPTER XVIII 
Characteristics. Structure of Society .... 378 



CONTENTS IX 



CHAPTER XIX 

PAGE 

War of 1812. Nullification 416 



CHAPTER XX 
Social Topics. Mexican War 458 

CHAPTER XXI 
Confederate Charleston. The End 486 

INDEX 509 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

St. Michael's Church Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Old Town Plantation 3 

Along Goose Creek 8 

Ashley Hall Plantation 14 

Glebe House 19 

The Huguenot Church 21 

Congregational Church, Dorchester 24 

Avenue of Oaks at "The Oaks," Goose Creek opposite 38 

Goose Creek Church "58 

Mulberry Castle, "Broughton's Fort," Cooper River . 64 

A Corner of the Battery Garden 79 

Drayton Hall 88 

Magnolia Gardens, on Ashley River . . . opposite 90 

The Second St. Philip's Church 96 

St. Michael's Church from Broad Street ... 98 

St. Philip's from the Huguenot Churchyard . . . Ill 
Early Brick Houses on Tradd Street .... 115 
Under the Portico, South Carolina Society Hall, 

Meeting Street 118 

A Bit of a Typical Charleston Garden . . . . 121 
The Pr ingle House, King Street . . . opposite 128 

Court House Square 135 

xi 



XU ILL USTBA TIONS 

PAGE 

The Old Building at Ashley Hall, where Indian 

Treaty was Signed 142 

St. Michael's from Meeting Street 157 

The Rhett House, Hasel Street 167 

The William Huger House, Meeting Street . . . 171 

The Statue of Pitt opposite 172 

St. Michael's Churchyard 174 

St. Michael's Alley 181 

The "Corner," Broad and Church Streets . . . 186 

Entrance to Fort Moultrie 192 

Relic of Tappy Wall 262 

Old Powder Magazine, Cumberland Street . opposite 268 

The Old Exchange, Foot of Broad Street . . . 272 

The "Provost" 277 

House at Corner of Tradd and Orange Streets, from 

which it is said General Marion Fell . . . 285 

Gadsden's Wharf 333 

Charleston College 347 

Typical House in Meeting Street 351 

The Live-oaks at Otranto 353 

The House where President Washington stayed, in 

Church Street 361 

Castle Pinckney at Present Time 374 

General William Washington's House .... 407 

Judge Grimke's House . . . . . . . 429 

End of Drawing-room of the Pringle House . opposite 432 

The Pringle House 436 

Stoll's Alley 439 

The Mansion House — "Eliza Lee's" 160 



ILLUSTRATIONS xiii 

PAGE 

The Old Planters' Hotel 462 

Old Wharves along the Harbour Front .... 465 
The Simonton Gateway, Legare Street .... 470 

The Sea Wall — East Battery 477 

The East Battery opposite 480 

The South Portal and Gates, St. Philip's Church . 483 

St. Philip's Church opposite 484 

Fort Sumter ' . "488 

Old Warehouses near East Bay 493 

Looking over the City toward the Cooper River opposite 496 
Gateway, St. Michael's Churchyard 502 



CHARLESTON 



CHAPTER I 

HIS MOST SACRED MAJESTY. THE LORDS PROPRIETORS 

IN the year of our Lord 1679 the Lords Proprietors of 
the Province of Carolina on the Continent of North 
America ordered the Governor of their said province to 
remove his " Towne of Trade " (a small settlement on the 
west bank of the Ashley River) to the peninsula opposite, 
lying between what we call the Ashley and the Cooper 
rivers, but which were known to the Indians as the Kiawah 
and the Wando. 

The Lords Proprietors were certain nobles and gentle- 
men to whom his Most Sacred Majesty King Charles II. 
had, in gratitude for services rendered to his father and 
himself, given all that territory " situate between the south- 
ernmost parts of Virginia, and the river San Mathias," 
the northern boundary of the Spanish dominions. 

These gentlemen were : Lord Clarendon, the great his- 
torian ; the Duke of Albemarle, who, as General Monk, 
had brought back the King from exile to " enjoy his own 
again " ; the sagacious statesman, Sir Anthony Ashley 
Cooper, Lord Ashley (afterward Earl of Shaftesbury) ; 
Lord Craven, the preux chevalier of the age, who, like a 
knight of old, had vowed life and fortune to the service 
of the beautiful Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia — 
and of Hearts ; Lord Berkeley ; Sir George Carteret ; Sir 
John Colleton; and Sir William Berkeley, — all gallant 
and loyal cavaliers. 

All these had done and suffered much in the service of 
the two Charleses, and to allow them, at their own expense, 

B 1 



2 CHARLESTON 

to secure and settle a province was an easy way to pay 
a debt of gratitude. Moreover, the King expressly stated 
in the charter, or patent, which he granted them, that he 
did so, finding that they " were incited by a laudable and 
pious design of propagating the Christian religion and the 
enlargement of the English empire and dominion," — 
matters which the Merry Monarch was suspected of not 
having deeply at heart. 

The territory which he gave had not always been 
claimed by England ; indeed, its very name " Carolina " 
had been given a hundred years before, by a luckless band 
of French Huguenots sent by the great Admiral Coligny 
to find a refuge for "men of the religion" in the New 
World. They, led by the Sieur Jean Ribault, had landed 
at the " fair entrance " to which they gave the name of 
Port Royal. Delighted with the beauty and fertility of 
the country, they claimed and named it for their king, 
Charles IX. of France ; built a fort and raised the 
French flag. But misfortune overtaking them, they 
abandoned the place, only to be done to death by the 
Spaniards at St. Augustine, — dying for their faith and 
scorning to abjure. 

In the reign of Charles II. a ruined fort, a broken 
column carved with the fleur-de-lys, and the names " Caro- 
lina " and " Port Royal " alone remained to tell the tale. 

The country had, for nearly a century, "lain like a 
derelict" to be taken by the first comer, so England 
stepped in and claimed it for her own. There were 
many difficulties and delays, but the Proprietors sent 
exploring expeditions, on one of which a bold captain, 
Robert Sandford, coasting along from the Cape Fear to 
Port Royal, landed and " took seizin by turffe and twigge " 
of the territory in the name of the King and realm of 
England. 

Three years later the first settlement was made by a 



THE LORDS PROPRIETORS 



3 



colony sent from England via Barbadoes and Bermuda, 
commanded by Captain William Sayle. Sayle, after ex- 



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a/y- 

Old Town Plantation 

Site of the first Charleston. The present city lies across the Ashley River, in 

the distance. 

amining St. Helena Island and Port Royal, decided upon 
going northward to what the Spaniards called St. G'eorge's 
Bay, but which Sandford, in honour of the Proprietor 



4 CHABLESTON 

who had taken the chief interest in the matter, had named 
the "River Ashley." 

Here they landed and built a little town and called it 
" Albemarle Point," afterwards " Charles Town," a small 
place of nine acres, with the river on one side, a creek 
on the other, and a little ditch and palisade between it 
and the boundless forest at the back, — the forest in which 
were terrible beasts and yet more terrible men — the men 
of the "shaven head and the painted face," who had laid 
St. Helen's waste only a year before. In this little com- 
pany of one hundred and sixty souls were several women. 
Surely the women of those days must have been heroic 
creatures ! What did they think and feel, those mothers 
of Carolina, as they looked from their low bluff upon the 
wilderness around ? Had they the prophetic vision of 
comfort and plenty and happy homes for their children, 
or did the trials and privations of the present fill their 
hearts? However they may have felt, no word of fear 
escaped them ; the letters tell of suffering, but never of 
despondency. 

At Albemarle Point they endured all the first horrors 
of colonization. Want, hunger, sickness, danger from 
Indians, and so on. Their food was for a time reduced to 
one pint of " damnified peas " a day, and but for the help 
of the friendly Indians they might have starved. These 
were their neighbours, and their friendship was gained 
chiefly by the wisdom of one man, a " brave chirurgeon," 
Mr. Henry Woodward, who, having accompanied Sand- 
ford on his exploring expedition, had offered to remain 
for a whole year alone among the savages, to learn their 
language and interpret for his people when they should 
return. The nephew of the chief, " the Cassique of 
Kiawah," had taken his place on Sandford's ship in 
order to learn English, and had great influence in deciding 
the choice of Ashley River as the place of settlement. 



THE LORDS PROPRIETORS 5 

Woodward had gained the favour of his Indian hosts and 
was thus enabled to avert dangers which would have 
overwhelmed the little band. 

For the government of their colony the Proprietors 
had prepared a singular code of laws. By their charter 
from the King, which granted them all the territory 
now comprised in the states of North and South Carolina 
and Georgia, with an indefinite extension westward "to 
the South Seas," they were enjoined to establish the. 
Church of England, and permitted to grant liberty of 
conscience. They might make laws, but only with the 
consent of the "greater part" of the people (a most 
unusual provision for those days) ; they were to estab- 
lish a nobility, but not to give the nobles English titles; 
and place and people were ever to remain " of His 
Majesty's allegiance." 

The Province was to be created a County Palatine, 
and the Proprietors, the oldest of whom, for the time 
being, was to be the Palatine, were authorized to build 
forts, castles, towns, etc., to appoint governors and 
officers, to make laws, levy taxes and customs, establish 
the Church of England, wage war, pursue their enemies, 
put down rebellion, tumult, and sedition. All these 
powers they were "to have, use and enjoy in as ample 
a manner as any Bishop of Durham in our kingdom of 
England ever heretofore held, used, or enjoyed." 

A " County Palatine " is a frontier province where, 
for the prompt action needful when enemies are close 
at hand, the King delegates the supreme power to a 
" Palatine," who can exercise for the time all regal func- 
tions. Such had been the English counties of Chester, 
Lancashire, and Durham, in the days when the Welsh 
threatened the west country, and the Cathedral of Dur- 
ham was " half Church of God, half tower against the 
Scot." Of the three, in the reign of Charles II., Durham 



6 CHARLESTON 

alone kept its ancient privilege ; and so the powers of 
that feudal potentate, the Lord Bishop, were cited as the 
model for those of the Proprietors of Carolina. 

This charter was for a long time as dear to the people 
of Carolina as is Magna Carta to the English. In 
addition Lord Ashley (not yet Lord Shaftesbury), call- 
ing to his aid the great philosopher John Locke, pre- 
pared the "Fundamental Constitution," which enlarged 
and added to the statutes of His Majesty. Among 
other things it arranged for the proposed " nobility," " in 
order to avoid a too numerous democracy." This nobility 
was little more than a plutocracy, depending upon the 
amount of land owned by a man, which might be bought 
by him, without regard to birth or breeding, or service 
to the State. The titles passed by purchase as well as by 
descent. 

As land was held at a penny an acre, it did not re- 
quire a large fortune to become a " baron " with twelve 
thousand acres, a cassique with twenty-four thousand, 
or even a landgrave (these were the titles chosen) with 
forty-eight thousand. The estates were called " baronies," 
and there were many which long kept the name, as the 
";Wadboo," the " Broughton," the " Colleton," the "Fair- 
lawn Barony," but no one was addressed as "baron" 
or "cassique," and the landgraves, who were generally 
given the title to qualify them as governors (there were 
some exceptions), simply prefixed the title to their sur- 
names. No man was landgrave of Edisto or of Accabee, 
but Landgrave Morton or Landgrave Smith. Neither 
did any "lord of the manor " exercise manorial rights over 
white leetmen or negro slaves. Furnished with this con- 
stitution and with some more practical " Temporary 
Laws," the colony began its career. 

A contemporaneous, facsimile copy of this constitution 
(commonly called " Locke's ") is among the treasures 



THE LORDS PROPRIETORS 7 

of the Charleston Library, and may be seen by the 
curious. 

Governor Sayle had brought with him only one hun- 
dred and sixty persons, but the number of inhabitants 
was rapidly increased by subsequent immigration. 
Especially was this the case when Governor Sir John 
Yeamans came from Barbadoes, bringing with him ne- 
groes accustomed to the agriculture of the islands and 
to labour under tropical suns. By so doing he decided 
the institutions and conditions of Carolina for all future 
time. 

Yeamans was the son of an alderman of Bristol who 
had suffered death for his fidelity to the crown. He 
himself had warmly supported the royal cause, in Bar- 
badoes, already a thriving colony. For so doing and 
for prospective services in colonization he, Sir Peter 
Colleton, and some other gentlemen of like principles, had 
been made baronets ; — the old people used to refer to 
them as " only-badian Baronets." He had provoked the 
colonists by not accompanying them on their voyage and 
they vainly protested against his appointment now. In 
many respects he made a bad Governor, oppressing the 
people by his exactions, and offending the Proprietors by 
demands for buildings and fortifications, which although 
needed they had no mind to give. 

Still, he had the advantage of understanding the needs 
and resources of a new colony, putting the place into a 
tolerable state of defence, and pointing out the agricul- 
ture suited to the climate. He also showed the resources 
of the forests, cutting and sending to Lord Ashley twelve 
great logs of cedarwood, as the first-fruits of his new 
possession. From that time the demand for cedar was as 
constant and eager as was that of Solomon upon Hiram, 
King of Tyre. 

A still more important service was, that by his advice 



8 



CHARLESTON 



and influence many rich planters from Barbadoes and 
other West Indian Islands came to the Province, bringing 
their negroes with them. They settled themselves chiefly 
on a small affluent of the Cooper, called, from the fancied 




Along Goose Creek 

resemblance of its winding course to the curving neck of 
the goose, " Goose-creek. " Thence, they and their friends 
on the Ashley and Cooper were known as the " Goose- 
creek men." 

They differed from the " plain people " — mostly dis- 
senters — who had come out with Sayle, in being generally 



THE LORDS PROPRIETORS 9 

of a higher class, wealthy, and members of the Church of 
England. Thus began — and not from the fanciful no- 
bility — that untitled class of landed gentry which, per- 
fectly well understood and accepted during the colonial 
period, survived the Revolution and formed a distinct and 
influential element of Charleston society down to 1865. 

Long after Yeamans had been removed this movement 
continued, and gentlemen of wealth and position arrived 
from England and the Islands to the great benefit of the 
Province. 

It was during Sir John's term of office that the question 
of removing the first town was mooted, and Mr. Dalton, 
secretary to the "Grand Council," wrote the following 
letter to Lord Ashley, who had proposed a new " Towne 
of Trade" in January, 1671. 

" We cannot reasonably believe that the world is now 
asleep, or that the Spaniard has forgot his sullenness, 
therefore as it has been the practice of the most skilful 
settlers, soe it will become us, to erect townes of safety as 
well as of Trade, to which purpose there is a place — 
between Ashley and Wando rivers, about six hundred 
acres left vacant for a towne and Fort, by the direction of 
the old Governor Coll. Sayle, for that it commands both 
the Rivers. It is not a mile over between River and 
river, with a bold landing free from any marsh, soe as 
many shipps as can may ride before the Towne at once, 
and as many shipps as can come into the River under the 
protection of the fort, if one should be there. 

" It is as it were a Key to open and shut this settlement 
into safety or danger ; Charles Towne [their first town] 
indeed can very well defend itself, and that's all ; but 
that like an iron gate shutts up all the Townes that are or 
may be in these rivers ; besides it has a full view of the 
sea, being but a league or a few miles from the mouth of 
the river and noe shipp can come upon the Coast but 



10 CHABLESTON 

may be seen from thence and may receive the benefit of a 
Pilott from that Towne." 

" The settlements being thick about it, it cannot be 
surprised [he probably means by Indians] it is likewise 
the most convenient for building and launching of shipps 
as large as can come into this harbour. It must of neces- 
sity be very healthy, being free from any noxious vapors, 
and all the summer long being refreshed with continual 
cool breathings from the sea, which up in the country men 
are not soe fully sensible of." 

No better description of the site of Charleston and of 
its harbour could be written to-day. Its inhabitants are 
still " all the summer long refreshed with cool breathings 
from the sea " ; and for its strength, the fleets of France 
and Spain, of England, and of the United States, have all 
tried to force the iron gate, — and failed. 

In September of the same year Lord Ashley wrote to 
Sir John, " Above all things let me recommend to you the 
making of a Port Town upon the River Ashley," etc. 

Sir John was evidently of the same mind as his old 
predecessor, and took the first steps by negotiating with 
the persons who had taken up the land between the two 
rivers. Accordingly in February, 1672, Mr. Henry 
Hughes and " John Coming and Affra his wife " appeared 
before the Grand Council and surrendered their land, 
" nere a place upon Ashley River known as Oyster Point 
to be imployed in and towards enlarging of a Towne and 
Common of Pasture there intended to be erected." 

" Mr. John Coming and Affra his wife " are perhaps the 
most interesting people of that early time, because it is 
impossible not to suspect a romance concerning them. 

For why should " Mistress Affra Harleston of Mollyns, 
daughter of John Harleston Gent., of a family long seated 
at South Ockenden Essex, and having estates in Ireland," 
come out to America as servant to Mr. Owens, but for a 



THE LORDS PROPRIETORS 11 

sentimental reason? Her father's house, as described in 
the inventory, contained " seller, parlour, kitchen, larder, 
great chamber, painted chamber, nurserie, butterie, gal- 
lerie to the garretts," etc. Why, having everything thus 
handsome about her, did she leave it all, if it were not to 
marry John Coming, first mate of the Carolina, and 
afterward captain of the good ships Edisto and Bless- 
ing? Coming was a hardy Devonshire sailor of the 
race of Drake and Raleigh and Kingsley's heroes. The 
family tradition says, that having lost a ship some time 
before he had been accused of cowardice, whereupon he 
had with his own hands built and rigged a longboat, in 
which he had crossed the Atlantic. He must have been 
a man of means, for on first arrival he settled a place on 
Ashley River and afterward one on the Cooper. His 
name lives in " Comings Point," the southern cape of 
Charleston Harbour, charted by him in 1671, and in the 
fine plantation " Coming-tee," now in possession of his 
collateral descendants, the Balls. 

This may have been the first runaway match in South 
Carolina ! 

Mrs. Affra has kept the town waiting, but in fact it 
waited long. Sir John Yeamans fell into disgrace with 
the Proprietors, as before said, and was superseded before 
anything more was done. He withdrew to Barbadoes 
" with much estate but small esteem." His wife, " Dame 
Margaret," had been known in a right womanly way while 
in the Province. Two unfortunate men had been con- 
demned to death for desertion, but were pardoned " on 
account of the warmest solicitations of Margaret Lady 
Yeamans and the rest of the ladyes and gentlewomen 
of this Province." Her daughter married James Moore, 
afterward Governor, and has left numerous descendants 
in Carolina. 

It was probably owing to this and other troubles that it 



12 CHARLESTON 

was not until '79 that Lord Ashley wrote authoritatively to 
Governor West, " We let you know that Oyster Point is 
the place we do appoint for the New Towne, of which you 
are to take notice and call it Charles Town." 

West appointed a commission to carry out these orders, 
and in the course of the next year the move was made. 
The first settlement, gradually abandoned, and despoiled 
even of its name, became at length a plantation, still 
known as " Old Town Plantation," and the new Charles 
Town arose in its stead, the capital of the " Colony of 
Ashley River." 



CHAPTER II 

THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY. THE COMING OF THE 
HUGUENOTS 

GOVERNOR WEST was a grave and sober-minded 
man, and can but have been amused at the magnifi- 
cent directions which Lord Ashley sent for the building of 
the chief town of a province which had at that time only 
twelve hundred inhabitants. It should, His Lordship said, 
have at least sixscore squares each of three hundred feet 
and " it is necessary that you lay out the great Port Town 
into regular streets, for be the buildings never soe meane 
and thin at first, yet as the town increases in riches and 
people, the voyde spaces will be filled up and the buildings 
will grow more beautyfull. Your great street cannot be 
less than one hundred or six score broad, your lesser streets 
none under 60, your alleys 8 or ten feet. APallisado round 
the Towne with a small ditch is a sufficient Fortification 
against the Indians. There is a necessity that you leave 
a Common round the Towne soe that noe Enclosure may 
come nearer than the 3rd part of a mile to the Pallisado," 
etc. 

For the carrying out of these directions West had the 
assistance of his committee of Council. Surveyor-general 
Culpepper had already drawn a plan and Stephen Bull 
(afterward surveyor-general) took an active part. 
Stephen Bull was, next to West and Woodward, the most 
important of all the emigrants who came with Governor 
Sayle. He came bringing many servants, and at once took 
up a large body of land on Ashley River and named it 
" Ashley Hall." He was Lord Ashley's deputy, a member 

13 



14 



CHARLESTON 



of Council, master of ordnance, and held a dozen other 
important offices. Of most consequence to the colony 
was the fact that as an explorer among the Indians he be- 
came so friendly with them that they chose him for their 
Cassique, and he thus was enabled to make an advanta- 
geous treaty with them in 1696. A small one-story 
brick house built by him at Ashley Hall is still standing. 







r 






Ashley Hall Plantation 
Remains of the steps of Ashley Hall in the foreground. 

— the oldest on the river. The estate remained in the 
possession of the family for over two hundred years, and 
in all those years there was hardly a time in which one of 
the name did not go out to take part in the government 
of South Carolina. 

The committee does not seem to have attempted to exe- 
cute Lord Ashley's plan in full. Everything, however, 
is comparative, and the wide streets of that day are the 
narrow ones of this. Not even the most devoted Charles- 
tonian would now call Tradd, Elliott, and Church streets 



THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY 15 

" broad," but Mr. Thomas Ashe, clerk of the ship Rich- 
mond, writing in 1682 says, " The town is regularly laid 
out into broad and capacious streets"! 

It really was a narrow parallelogram about four squares 
long by three wide. The first street fronted on the Cooper 
River, extending on the south from a creek (Vander 
Horst's), which ran where Water Street is now, to another 
on the north over which the City Market now stands. 
On the west the present Meeting Street was bounded 
by a wall in which was a half moon, with a gate and draw- 
bridge giving access to the country without. The wall 
also extended along the three sides of water front, and had 
bastions and small forts at the corners. Of course all 
this was not constructed at once, but it was as described 
in a very few years. From the river front projected 
wharves, and soon " sixteen merchant vessels sometimes 
rode at once in the harbour." There was a place reserved, 
Ashe says, for a church and a Town Hall and a parade 
ground for the militia. The streets running north and 
south were Bay Street, Church, and Meeting; east and west 
were Tradd, so named in honour of the first male white 
child born in the town, Elliott, Broad, and Dock, now 
Queen. The early maps show these only extending from 
the Bay to Meeting Street, but in 1700 they are said to 
reach from river to river. Some persons lived outside of 
the walls on little farms, and the Council ordered that the 
peninsula should be cleared of all trees and bushes that 
might conceal a lurking enemy. There was a court of 
guard, and watch was kept, both there and upon Sullivan's 
Island, for " Topsayle Vessels " and other suspicious 
craft. 

In the years from 1679 to 1689 colonists were contin- 
ually arriving. The accession of James II. quickened 
the emigration from England. Five hundred dissenters, 
led by Morton and Axtell, who were made Landgraves for 



16 CHARLESTON 

their services, came out in a single month. Mr. Benjamin 
Blake was an important person in this connection. 

The Barbadians continued to come, and gentlemen from 
the other West Indian Islands and from England also. 
Thomas Drayton, William and Arthur Middleton, and Rob- 
ert Daniel, all names of note in Carolina, came in 1679. 
Moore, Ladson, Grimball, Cantey, Boone, Thomas Smith, 
Schenking, and Izard appear soon after. All of these took 
up lands; many of the original grants still remain, and 
the Council Journals show the extent, as " Lands granted 
on Goose Creek to Edward Middleton, Gent., one of the 
honourable persons of this Province." This land became 
afterward the beautiful plantation " Crowfield," long con- 
sidered the handsomest landscape garden in the Province. 
Another grant of a thousand acres to the same person 
was the " Oaks," the stately avenue of which still re- 
mains. 

Mr. Thomas Amy is to have twelve thousand acres 
(a barony) " In consideration of his great services " (in en- 
couraging emigration), and John Gibbs, Esq., kinsman of 
the Duke of Albemarle, is to " have every attention paid to 
him, and three thousand acres rent free.''' This last is a 
very rare order; the quit-rent, which made much trouble,, 
was generally to be paid. But although the chief resi- 
dences of these gentlemen were on their plantations, they 
were likewise important citizens; in fact the country for a 
radius of twenty miles around was but a greater Charles 
Town. Most of the chief planters in those early days 
were merchants as well ; the Indian trade was long the 
chief source of wealth. "Charles Town trades for 1000 
miles into the continent," one old writer says. The Pro- 
prietors tried to restrict the fur trade to within one hun- 
dred miles of the town, reserving all beyond to themselves; 
but although they appointed Indian agents to enforce 
the law, it was continually eluded. In troublous times 



THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY 17 

some of these agents became persons of great importance. 
Besides the furs, they had for exports, as has been already 
said, the products of the forest, lumber of all sorts, tar, 
pitch, and turpentine. To these, in defiance of the objec- 
tions of the Proprietors, there was added salt-beef and 
bacon. What was a man whose estate numbered thou- 
sands of acres to do but to graze it ? The cattle throve 
and multiplied enormously in a climate where food was 
plentiful all the year, and a bracken bush could keep the 
cow in the severest weather. Wolves prevented the 
increase of sheep as worthless dogs do now, but most 
planters protected a small flock, to supply the family with 
mutton and with wool for the ever whirling wheels. 
Swine could take care of themselves; they fattened on the 
acorns of the oak groves, and soon became an impor- 
tant article of export, while as yet crops were small and 
inadequate. 

These sources of prosperity had so increased the well- 
being of the little community that when Thomas Ashe, 
clerk of the ship Richmond, came out in 1680 with the first 
Huguenot colony, he declared in the "View of Carolina" 
which he published on his return to England, that there 
was no longer any suffering or want of food to be appre- 
hended ; that the settlers were well established, had all 
sorts of European grains and fruits and " twenty sorts of 
pulse not known in England, all of them good for food." 
It would be interesting to learn what they were. Most 
families kept an Indian, who for a mere trifle would sup- 
ply a household of twenty people with an ample quantity 
of game, venison, turkeys, ducks, etc. This custom lasted 
down to the Revolution, and in some cases still later. 

In the town the work of building went on. It seems 
extraordinary that the colony should have been founded 
for fourteen years before any attempt was made to erect 
a church. The uncertainty of occupation of Albemarle 



18 CHARLESTON 

Point was probably the cause of this delay, or perhaps the 
small number of churchmen among the original settlers. 
Old Governor Sayle had indeed selected and laid out a 
graveyard, adjoining the old town, of eighty acres (surely 
a liberal provision), in which we may presume that he 
himself was interred, but not until 1682 was St. Philip's 
begun. 

It was placed where St. Michael's now stands, at the 
corner of Broad and Meeting streets just opposite the half 
moon and drawbridge, and was built of the black cypress 
which Mr. Maurice Mathews, correspondent of Lord 
Shaftesbury, had strongly commended ten years before. 
"The black cypress is wonderful large and tall and 
smoothe, of a delicate graine, and smells. It will here- 
after be a good commodity to ye prying planter who looks 
abroad." Its value as a building material was now 
known. The foundation was of brick, and this mode of 
building, namely a cypress house on a brick foundation, 
was long esteemed and continued in the colony. For lime 
they burnt the old Indian heaps of oyster shells, which 
Sandford had described as piled thick along the river 
banks near the coast, where are many still to be seen. 
This lime makes the strongest possible mortar. Walls 
and whole buildings were often made of a concrete, 
called " tappy," or " pise," — composed of these shells 
mixed with the lime which becomes hard as stone. The 
only building now standing in Charleston known to have 
been erected in the seventeenth century, the old Powder 
Magazine in Cumberland Street, which was attached to the 
small fort at Carteret Bastion at the northwest corner of 
the old wall, is built of this " tappy." 

St. Philip's was said to be " large and stately " and to 
have a neat palisade around it. It shows the good feeling 
between the sects that Mrs. Blake (sometimes, as the wife 
of a Landgrave and Proprietor, called " Lady Blake "), 



THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY 



19 



who was the daughter of Landgrave Axtell, should have 
contributed liberally to the adornment and completion of 




Glebe House 



St. Philip's, although herself a Baptist. It was endowed 
by the piety of that true daughter of the Church, Mrs. 



20 CHARLESTON 

Affra Coming, who in 1698 " for love and duty " bestowed 
upon it seventeen acres of land just outside the walls. 
This land, now covered by the "Middle Western" part of 
the city, has, as Glebe land, been of great value. Glebe 
Street and Coming Street keep the memory of the gift and 
the donor. A large old-fashioned brick house on the east 
side of the former street was, until a comparatively recent 
period, the Rectory of St. Philip's, and was always known 
as the "Glebe House." 

The other denominations soon housed themselves also. 
In Meeting Street, near the north wall, the Presbyterians or 
Independents built in 1685 their "White Meeting House," 
to which Governor Blake ten years later gave a thousand 
pounds sterling. This gave the name to Meeting Street. 

The Huguenot emigrants, who only arrived in 1680 to 
1686, began their "French Church" about 1687 in the 
upper part of Church Street on land conveyed by Ralph 
Izard and Mary his wife (a Miss Middleton) for that pur- 
pose. Isaac Mazyck, one of the earliest and wealthiest 
emigrants of their race, gave generously to its erection 
and support. At the other end of Church Street were the 
Baptists, on land given by William Elliott, and the Quak- 
ers had a " Friends' Meeting House " outside the walls, 
near to the present King Street. 

Thus in ten years from the founding of Charles Town 
there was no lack of places of worship; it is remarkable 
that although no one of the original buildings remains 
churches still stand upon each of these sites, belong- 
ing to the same organizations and denominations. The 
" Friends' " is the only exception to this. The building 
was destroyed by fire, and there being no Quakers now in 
the city it was never rebuilt ; but the lot is kept sacred, 
and is still owned by the society. 

So far the people of all these various denominations 
were, with the exception of a few Dutch, from Nova-Belgia, 



THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY 



21 



natives of Great Britain, subjects of the King; but now 
from 1680 to 1688 came the French Huguenots, strangers 
and aliens, into this English community. So much im- 




The Huguenot Church 



portance has been attached to this people that it strikes 
us strangely to lind that they amounted, all told, only to 
about four hundred and fifty persons. A small number 
for which to claim the amount of influence often attributed 



22 CHARLESTON 

to them, until we remember that there were at that time 
but twenty-five hundred white people in the colony. 
Thus the arrival of a compact and very individual body of 
foreigners, one-sixth of their whole number, might easily 
create some uneasiness. At first nothing of this appeared. 
Some few, wisely fleeing the wrath to come, had left France 
before the severity of persecution began, carrying with 
them much of their property, as the Mazycks, St. Juliens, 
and others. 

Those who remained until after the Revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes were happy if they escaped with life and 
unbroken families. 

The stories of the flight are pathetic, but do not prop- 
erly belong here. Well treated in England, highly com- 
mended by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and protected 
by the King, the colony who came in the Richmond sailed 
under royal patronage, sent by King Charles himself, to 
cultivate wine, oil, and silk; in all of which they abso- 
lutely failed. The Proprietors recommended them 
strongly to the Governor, and they were kindly received. 
The merchants and artisans, of whom there were many, 
both in this and succeeding migrations, settled generally 
in the town. The others took up land on the lower part 
of the Santee River, thence called " French Santee," and 
on the Cooper, in what was then known as " Orange 
Quarter," now the parishes of St. Denis and St. John's 
Berkeley. The greater number who came to Carolina 
were people of humble station, yet there were among them 
some of superior rank ; " Sieurs "; " Marchands oT outremer^ ; 
clergymen and physicians ; but all came for one cause, 
all had made the same sacrifice, all were bound in one 
brotherhood of kindliness. 

Inspired by a faith as strong, a morality as pure, as the 
most rigid Puritanism could demand, they escaped its 
harsher and grimmer features, and dwelt more on the 



THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY 23 

mercy of the Father than on the vengeance of the Judge. 
This strikes one in the entries in the few family Bibles of 
the emigrants still preserved, in which thanks for preser- 
vation are strangely unmixed with denunciations of their 
relentless persecutors. 

The emigrant Daniel Huger writes : — 

" Oh Lord in Christ our blessed Redeemer, I here ac- 
knowledge with all humility that thy chastisement hath 
been mixed with wonderful mercies. Thou hast pre- 
served us from the persecutors of Thy blessed Gospel, and 
hast brought us into this remote part of the World, where 
Thou hast guided us and blessed us here in a wonderful 
manner, and we now enjoy the benefits of Thy dear 
Gospel in peace and quietness through Our dear Lord 
Jesus Christ. Amen." 

They cast no longing backward glances as men who 
had left home under happier fortunes would have done, 
and grateful to the country which sheltered them became 
her devoted children. It has been supposed that lands 
were given to these emigrants, but this is shown to be a 
mistake, as only two free grants are on record. They 
bought on the same terms as other settlers, and some took 
up large estates — The de Chastaigners, Seigneurs de 
Cramache et de Lisle, three thousand acres, Goulard de 
Vervant twelve thousand, etc. Neither of these families 
survives in Carolina except in the female line. 

The last emigrants who came in a body to Charles Town 
and its vicinity arrived in 1695, from Dorchester, Massa- 
chusetts. They established themselves about twenty miles 
from the town on the Ashley River, and called the place 
Dorchester for their old home. Here they built a meeting 
house and lived for sixty years "keeping much to them- 
selves." At the end of that time they removed to Middle 
Georgia in search of a better climate. Some few of the 
congregation remained, and the name of " Ioor," known in 



24 



CHARLESTON 



the Revolution, still survives "as an appendage to an- 
other." 

The account of this last emigration has been given out 







Congregational Church, Dorchester 

Second building, 1700. 
From painting in South Carolina Historical Society rooms. 

of due chronological sequence, in order to complete the 
tale of those who were to make the people of Charles 
Town. Large companies of Germans and Swiss did in- 



THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY 25 

deed come later into the Province, but they were settled 
in the middle country and did not materially affect the 
seaboard population. Emigrants of course continued to 
arrive, and were often of the first importance, — as Trott 
and Rhett in 1694 and 1698; but they came as individuals 
or families ; there were no large groups of newcomers to 
be reckoned with after 1695. 

Even so the elements were strangely different. In 
most of the other Provinces there was a certain homo- 
geneity. Roughly speaking, it may be said that New 
England was settled by Puritans, Pennsylvania by Quakers, 
Maryland by Catholics, and Virginia by loyal Cavaliers. 
In Carolina, on the contrary, was infinite variety. There 
were English churchmen, influential and proud, but nu- 
merically weak; there were English, Scotch, and Irish 
dissenters of every shade of creed, who claimed in 1706 
to be two-thirds of the population. There were some 
Dutch, a few Swiss and Belgians, some Quakers, and the 
French Huguenots. From these various sources sprang, 
under the imperial genius of the English race, and the 
wise government of the English law, applied to the grave 
responsibility of his own industrial system, the well- 
marked characteristics of the Carolinian of "the parishes." 
At the outbreak of the Revolution there was no community 
more absolutely one, more absolutely devoted to the old 
country, than this, Charles Town and its dependencies. 



CHAPTER III 

THE MURDER OF THE SCOTS. INTOLERANCE 

BEFORE the Huguenot immigration was complete 
Charles Town was startled and shocked by a trag- 
edy which, though not precisely within her borders, 
touched her nearly. 

She had not been too well pleased when in 1682 the 
Lords Proprietors had informed Mr. Joseph Morton, then 
Governor, that they intended sending out a Scotch colony 
to be planted to the southward, somewhere near Port 
Royal, which was to be independent, or nearly so, of the 
existing authorities on Ashley River. This colony grew 
out of the troubled condition of Scotland. Times were 
hard for the Covenanters then; the easy-going Charles 
was still upon the throne, but the persecutions which fol- 
lowed the " Rising in the West," so pathetically told in 
song and story, were going on, and the Whigs knew well 
that the scourge which fell upon them now would become 
a scorpion in the hand of James. Therefore, turning 
their eyes to Carolina, as " to a place of refuge and safe 
retreat from arbitrary government," several lords and 
gentlemen proposed to the Proprietors to carry a colony 
of ten thousand people to their Province. 

The Lords were gracious; they gave the right, insisting 
only that the " Fundamental Constitution " should be 
most strictly observed, and they also gave a sort of co- 
ordinate authority to the Governors of the old and the 
new colonies, an arrangement which could hardly fail to 
breed dissension. In an unhappy hour Henry, Lord Car- 

26 



THE MURDER OF THE SCOTS. INTOLERANCE 27 

dross, of the noble houses of Mar and Buchan, came with 
a small following to Port Royal. The number is not 
definitely known, some saying that only ten families 
accompanied him, others giving more. On arriving, 
Cardross notified Morton of his coming, and his claims. 
Morton doubted his authority and summoned the Scotch 
lord to appear before him as his superior officer. They 
could not agree upon their relative positions, Morton even 
ordering the arrest of some of the Scotch as disobedient 
to his commands. Cardross, in a very manly letter, ex- 
plained his position. 

" Stuart's Town on Port Royall ye 25th March, 1684. 

" Honoured Sir, — The Bearer hereof, Mr. Dunlop, one 
of our number having some occasions att Charles Towne, 
we have laid it upon him to give you an account of the 
state of our affairs, that noe mistakes may arise betwixt 
you and us. [He alludes to jealousies of jurisdiction 
etc.] We nothing doubt but that you all know the 
contracts and treaties that have been made between the 
Lords Proprietors and us and other of our countrymen. 
We have the ties of living under the same Hoyall King, 
and of having the same Lords Proprietors, soe that it will 
never be the true interest of any of us to lett Jealousies 
arise among us, especially att this tyme when we have 
ground to apprehend the invasion of the Forraigner. 
We expected to have heard what your resolves were, 
after the perusall of the Spanish Letter we sent you, but 
as yett have not ; " he reports Spanish Indians intriguing 
against them and concludes : — 

" We desire you cause delivir to the bearer those six 
Gunns the Lords Proprietors appoynted for us, we will 
trouble you no further, but remitt all to the bearer by 
whom we expect a return from you." 

No satisfaction was received and the petty dispute went 



28 CHARLESTON 

on. Morton was removed from office, and a Colonel 
Quarry was acting Governor in his stead, when Cardross, 
who appears to have known this gentleman, and to have 
hoped something from that circumstance, wrote again : — 

" I have heard what the Resolucions of the Grand 
Council were concerning mee and that the Council con- 
tinue in the apprehencion that I have committed some 
high misdemeanour and look upon my not appearing as a 
great contempt of their authority e. Sir, I doe not look 
upon myself as an English lawyer and therefore shall not 
be positive in every notion I have taken of it." He 
speaks of former communications and says that what he 
has done is to sustain the authority of the government 
at Charles Town, speaks of illness (fever and ague) by 
reason " of these heats which I have not been acquainted 
with," and concludes : — 

" I hope what I now write will satisfye you and the 
rest of the gentlemen of the Grand Council that they will 
not further trouble themselves by sending for one who is 
very willing to take the first opportunity to come. 

" I crave pardon for the tedious lyne in writing, 
whereof I am forced to make use of anothers hand, but 
I have presumed on the small acquaintance I have with 
you, and on the character which you now beare in the 
Government of which I wish you much joy, etc., etc. 

"Cardrosse." 

His hopes were vain ; Quarry was no more responsive 
than Morton had been, and at last worn out by illness and 
mortification, Cardross resigned his office and returned to 
Scotland. It had been well if his companions had gone 
with him, for in 1686, the Spaniards, well informed of the 
conditions by the " trusty Indians," made a descent upon 
the coast, landing at Edisto. Fortunately for themselves, 
Morton (then again Governor) and Mr. Paul Grimball, Sec- 



THE MURDER OF THE SCOTS. INTOLERANCE 29 

retary of the Province (first of the name in Carolina), 
were not on their plantations. The Spaniards sacked 
and burnt their houses, carried off money, plate, and 
negroes, killed the brother-in-law of the Governor, and 
then fell upon Port Royal. Here were only twenty-five 
fever-stricken men to oppose them. They killed some, 
whipped and tortured others, and carried the rest captive 
to St. Augustine ; only two or three escaped to bring the 
news to Charles Town. 

Great was the horror and rage when the tale was told, 
— rage it may be supposed not unmixed with self-reproach. 
They could not hold themselves guiltless toward the 
Scotch, and Edisto was of their own government, not 
more than forty miles away. A political quarrel was 
going on at the moment and parties were bitterly opposed, 
but under this calamity such differences were forgotten, 
and all felt and acted as Englishmen. They sent a dis- 
patch to the Proprietors asking aid from them, and from 
the King ; but not waiting for help which must needs be 
slow, they assessed themselves ; armed two vessels and 
four hundred men, and resolved to beard the lion in his 
den by attacking St. Augustine itself, as became a County 
Palatine with all its rights of pursuing enemies, waging 
war, etc. 

Unhappily before the expedition could start there ar- 
rived James Colleton, a Landgrave, brother to the Pro- 
prietor Sir John, and to Sir Peter who had acted as agent 
for the colony at Barbadoes. Colleton brought with him 
his commission as Governor, and the people were glad, 
nothing doubting that a man of his soldierly race would 
prove a gallant commander. To their anger and disgust 
he ordered immediate disarmament of vessels and men, 
and absolutely forbade the expedition. The people ap- 
pealed to the Proprietors, but they entirely supported 
Colleton. The reason was not far to seek. James II., 



30 CHARLESTON 

who was on the throne, was the sworn foe to Proprietary 
governments and a friend of his most Catholic Majesty. 
The Proprietors trembled for their charter — nothing 
would endanger it so much as a quarrel with Spain. So 
they ordered the most humiliating submission, told Mor- 
ton and the proposed commander, Captain Godfrey, that 
they " might well have been hung" had they made war upon 
his Majesty's friends ; equivocated shamefully about the 
rights of a County Palatine, and ordered that a " polite 
letter " should be addressed to the Governor of St. Augus- 
tine asking by what authority he acted. Seldom if ever 
have Englishmen been so abused ! The furious colonists, 
not understanding that their honour was being sacrificed 
to policy, attributed an even baser motive to the hated 
Governor, the instrument of their disgrace. He desired, 
they said, to monopolize the Indian trade, it being " sup- 
posed on rational grounds that he hath a partner in Lon- 
don," and of truckling to Spain for the same avaricious 
reasons. They wrote : — 

" We have often received letters from the Spanish 
Governor at St. Augustine which we use to answer with 
courage and we hope with prudence ; but the Spaniards 
did invade us in the year 1686, destroying severall planta- 
tions and much stock, and most barbarously burned alive 
one of our people and caryed others away into captivity, 
and ye whole country did resolve by fresh pursuite to be 
revenged upon them, but the late Governor arriving here, 
did forbid it att that time, and afterwards when a new 
Governor at St. Augustine did send a Fryar and a lieuten- 
ant to treat with the Governor here about all differences, 
the Governor (Landgrave Colleton) did not advise with 
the commoners of the Council about the matter, (unlesse 
once when he desired the Spanish Messengers should by 
their consent be maintained out of the publick Treasury), 
but did, contrary to the Honour of the English Nation, 



THE MURDER OF THE SCOTS. INTOLERANCE 31 

pass by all the bloody Insolencys the Spaniards had com- 
mitted against this Collony, and did with others enter 
into a contract of Trade with the Fryar, and sent goods 
with him. We are of opinion we ought not to be 
angry att a trade with the Spaniards, but as Englishmen 
who wanted not courage to do themselves honourable 
satisfaction, we could not admire that soe execrable a 
barbarity committed upon the person of an Englishman, 
and the great desolation that was made in the Southern 
part of this Settlement " (Port Royal) " should be buryed 
in silence for the hope of a little filthy lucre, which, how- 
ever, was missed of, for the Fryar never sent the retournes 
promised," etc. 

There was some evident satisfaction in the last two 
lines! 

If this book were a history, which it is far from 
assuming to be, it would have to relate the endless 
quarrels between the people and Landgrave Colleton. 
Oldmixon, writing eighteen years later, says of him, " Had 
he had as much honour and capacity as his brother, we 
should have had no reason to excuse ourselves for keeping 
to the truth of history in his behalf." 

The simple truth seems to have been that he tried ac- 
cording to his lights to represent the Proprietors. Un- 
luckily he only succeeded in making them so odious, that 
the dissatisfaction which ended in the overthrow of the 
Proprietary Government in 1719 may be said to have 
begun then. He used in his little province the methods 
which in the Mother Country lost the Stuart crown ; 
denying the rights of the Commons, proroguing Parlia- 
ments, dismissing officers illegally, attempting to establish 
martial law, etc. At last after four years of misrule, 
which had almost resulted in anarchy, the colonists 
became so indignant that they pronounced sentence of 
banishment upon him and those of his council who had 



32 CHARLESTON 

supported him. " A fate," says Oldmixon, " which few 
Governors of Colonies were so unfortunate as to meet 
with." Fortunately for the people there was a new rule 
at home. William and Mary " filled the Stuarts' throne," 
and the Proprietors, who dreaded above all things an ap- 
peal to the crown, abandoned him to his fate, — especially 
disappointed, since they had " hoped much from his 
nobility." He left reluctantly the beautiful home which 
he had built for himself and his family, on the west bank 
of the Ashley near Wappoo, on a large tract of land known 
as the " Waheewah Barony," and withdrew to Barbadoes, 
whence he had come intending to settle permanently, four 
years before. 

The disputes went on, greatly aggravated by the feeling 
which had arisen against the Huguenot settlers. They 
lived chiefly in Craven County, which had never before 
been allowed a representation like that of Colleton, which 
was the stronghold of the dissenters, or Berkeley, the first 
and most populous of the three. But at the election 
ordered by Governor Ludwell, who had been sent to pacify 
the discords raised by Colleton, six out of the twenty rep- 
resentatives who formed the Parliament were Huguenots 
from Craven County. The English " especially," says 
Hewat, " the common sort " were enraged. " Shall the 
French who cannot even speak our language make our 
laws ? " they demanded. The feeling was not unreason- 
able, and was so strong that Ludwell and Landgrave 
Smith, who succeeded him in office, were compelled to tell 
the Proprietors that in order not to alienate the affections of 
the people it was necessary to exclude the French from all 
participation in the government. This is perhaps easily 
comprehensible, but the proceedings against them were in 
other respects unjustifiable. Hewat explains by saying that 
they were not accused of any wrong-doing, but that their 
prosperity aroused the jealousy of their neighbours. 



THE MURDER OF THE SCOTS. INTOLERANCE 33 

"Many of the refugees, being possessed of considerable 
property in France, had sold it and brought the money to 
England. Having purchased large tracts of land with 
this money, they set down in more advantageous circum- 
stances than the poorer sort of the English emigrants. 
Having clergymen of their own persuasion for whom they 
entertained the highest respect and admiration, they were 
disposed to encourage them as far as their narrow circum- 
stances would permit." The two pastors who had accom- 
panied their flock were the Reverend Elias Prioleau of the 
church of Pons in Saintonge, whose grandfather, a member 
of the ducal house of Priuli of Venice, had surrendered 
rank and fortune for the Protestant faith sixty years 
before ; and the Reverend Florente Philippe Trouillard. 
M. Prioleau was dead (his monument may be seen 
in the French Protestant church of Charleston), but 
M. Trouillard and his " ancien" or elder, M. Boutelle, 
petitioned the Proprietors on the injustice done to their 
people. 

The Proprietors in reply sent the following very worthy 
answer to the Governor and Council in 1693 : — 

" The French have complained to us that they are 
threatened to have their estates taken from their children 
after their death because they are aliens. Now many of 
them have bought the land they enjoy of us, and if their 
estates are forfeited they escheat to us, and God forbid 
that we should take advantage of the forfeiture, nor do 
we so intend and therefore have sent our declaration 
under our hands and seals to that purpose, which we will 
shall be registered that it may remain upon record in 
Carolina, and be obliging to our heirs, successors and 
assigns." 

They order that the French shall not be obliged to 
begin their Divine worship at an hour inconvenient to the 
tide (they came to church by water), that the validity of 



34 CHARLESTON 

their marriages and legitimacy of their children shall be 
recognized, " although their ministers are not ordained by 
some bishop." '■' We have power by our patent to grant 
liberty of conscience in Carolina, and it is granted by an 
act of Parliament here." "We desire that these things 
may be remedied and that their complaints of all kinds 
may be heard with favour, and that they have equal 
justice with Englishmen and enjoy the same privileges ; 
it being for their Majesties' service to have as many of 
them as we can in Carolina." 

Notwithstanding this august recommendation the de- 
sired liberties were not yet granted. Governors Ludwell, 
Smith, and Archdale all found it an impossible task ; the 
latter, a peace-loving and well-meaning Quaker, being 
congratulated at the close of his administration that 
"every one was happy except the French." Still, "Time 
and the hour win through the longest day," and five 
years later Governor Blake, the first Governor of Caro- 
linian birth, procured them the wished-for boon. He 
recommended that the Huguenots should apply for 
naturalization, and thus losing the quality of aliens, be 
less objectionable to the English. This was done by the 
great majority of them accordingly, and an act was passed 
in 1697 " making aliens free of this part of the Province, 
and granting liberty of conscience to all protestants." 
There is a long preamble to this act which states, among 
other things, that these aliens " had given good testimony 
of their duty and loyalty to his Majesty and the Crown of 
England, of their fidelity to the Lords Proprietors, of their 
good affection to the inhabitants, and by their industry, 
diligence, and trade, had very much enriched and ad- 
vanced the settlement." Thereafter these long-suffering 
people were free to work out their own prosperity with 
no let or hindrance. 

All this was accomplished in Mr. Blake's administra- 



THE MURDER OF THE SCOTS. INTOLERANCE 35 

tion of four years, the most beneficent in the annals of 
Charles Town, although the two last were marked by 
calamities as dire as those proverbially attributed to the 
fin-de-siecle. In 1697 and 1698 smallpox ravaged the 
town and country ; earthquake and fire added their horrors 
to the scene. Mrs. Affra Coming wrote to postpone her 
sister's visit, describing the conditions and telling of the 
burning of one-third of the town, " which they say was 
of equal value with what remains ! " 

In 1699 a frightful epidemic which must certainly from 
the description have been yellow fever, although they 
called it the plague, smote the place. Numbers of people 
died, among them some prominent men who had only 
lately arrived. Edmund Bohun, the chief justice, a gen- 
tleman of ancient English family ; Mr. Marshall, rector of 
St. Philip's ; Mr. Ely, receiver-general ; were among its 
victims. These gentlemen had been sent out only two 
years before with the highest encomiums of the Pro- 
prietors as to their capacity and usefulness in law and 
divinity. Mr. Jonathan Amory, speaker of the Commons, 
and many others also died. Dr. Dalcho, in his " Church 
History," says, "the town was thinned to a very few per- 
sons." It was especially mentioned by the Council that 
the disease did not extend into the country, and that 
persons contracting it in town and returning to die on 
their plantations did not communicate the infection to 
their families. This has always been the case in Carolina ; 
presumably the yellow fever mosquito has never penetrated 
beyond the seaboard. 

While the epidemic was still raging, in September of 
the same year a tremendous hurricane struck the town. 
The water rose to the second stories of the houses, wharves 
were swept away, vessels driven ashore, etc. But few 
lives were lost in the town ; but the combination of storm, 
inundation, and fever, which again occurred in 1854, 



36 CHARLESTON 

created a misery and distress which can hardly be im- 
agined. Outside of the bar the ship Rising Sun, which 
had on board the survivors of the unhappy Scotch colony 
of Darien, was lying at anchor. She was on her way 
from the Isthmus to Scotland and had stopped for water 
and provisions. The congregation of the "White Meet- 
ing House," hearing that the Rev. Archibald Stobo was 
among the passengers, sent down to invite him to come 
up and preach for them on Sunday. He came, bringing 
his wife with him. They and the boat's crew which had 
brought them were therefore in Charles Town when the 
storm arose, and were the sole survivors of the wreck. 
The bodies of their unfortunate companions strewed the 
beach of James Island. 

It need hardly be said that the congregation of the 
" White Meeting House " were obedient to the finger of 
Providence. Mr. Stobo was " called " to the church and 
proved himself an excellent and influential minister, leav- 
ing many descendants in the Province. 

And thus closed the twentieth year of the town. 



CHAPTER IV 

CHURCH ACTS. THE COUNTRY FOR THE QUEEN 

SUCH calamities as those narrated in the last chapter 
were enough to have caused " great discouragement " 
to any people, but the Charlestonians rallied quickly, and, 
with the assistance of an architect sent out by the Pro- 
prietors, began to rebuild their waste places and improve 
their town. There were in the colony by this time many 
men of ambition and talent, all of whom had, with varying 
characteristics, that force and energy of mind, which more 
than any other quality, influences for weal or woe, individ- 
uals and communities. Four of these now came promi- 
nently forward. They were James Moore, William Rhett, 
Nicholas Trott, and Sir Nathaniel Johnson. Rhett, Trott, 
and Johnson were newcomers, and the three former dif- 
fered from the gentlemen planters of Goose Creek and 
the rivers, in that they were constantly "place men," 
leaders of the people, or what we now call " politicians," 
first, and planters afterward, whereas Blake, Johnson, 
Middleton, Izard, and their like, were country gentlemen, 
who left their plantations when needed to serve the state. 
Moore, the first to come to the colony, was a hot-headed 
Irishman, said to be the son of the Irish chieftain Roger 
More, who had been a leader in the great revolt after the 
death of Strafford. He was the type of his countrymen, 
the type also of the " gentleman adventurer " who had 
sailed with Drake and Raleigh two generations before. 
He had come from Barbadoes, where he had married the 
daughter of Sir John Yeamans, had led a bold and adven- 

37 



38 CHARLESTON 

turous life, had penetrated the wilderness, traded and 
fought with the Indians, crossed the Appalachians and 
found traces of gold there. With small encouragement 
he would have found both the mines and the Mississippi, 
but the Lords of Trade, although advised by the Collector 
Randolph, would not give ear to him, being still of the 
same mind as Shaftesbury, when years before he had 
written to Woodward, the earliest explorer : — 

" If those inland countryes have given you any know- 
ledge or conjecture of mines there, I earnestly entreat you 
not to give the least hint of it to anybody whatsoever ; 
for fear our people being tempted by the hope of present 
gain should forsake their plantations. If it should be 
convenient, as perhaps it may be, to give mee some hint 
of it in letters to mee, pray call Gold always ' Antimony,' 
and silver 'iron,' by the which I shall always be able to 
understand you, without any danger if your letters should 
fall into other hands." 

Not having thought of this ingenious way of suppress- 
ing discoveries, the Lords severely snubbed Moore, and 
the mines remained unknown. He returned to trouble 
the government, succeeded in being elected to the As- 
sembly, and although only a few years before he had been 
banished with Colleton, the Council, upon the death of 
Governor Blake, chose him Governor. Why they should 
have done so remains a mystery. He might, had he been 
permitted, have been a Lewis or a Clark, but a more unfit 
man for any civil position did not exist. Possibly it was 
upon the principle of the famous answer, " If all Ireland 
cannot govern this Earl, then this Earl shall govern all 
Ireland." Things Avent badly. His fortunes were in a 
desperate condition, and he tried desperate ways of re- 
deeming them. The Parliament was unmanageable and 
he prorogued and then dismissed it. Another was elected 
of very doubtful legality, and then the amazed people 



CHURCH ACTS 39 

heard that the doors of the House being closed " Captain 
Moore, Governor, proposed his mind to the Assembly, who 
condescending thereunto " had granted him men and 
money to march forthwith upon St. Augustine ! 

It was really a master-stroke on Moore's part. The 
people were still sore from the massacres of Edisto and 
Port Royal, and also from more recent attacks of the 
Spaniards upon their frontiers. Nothing could have been 
more popular with the greater number of them than an 
attempt to wipe out the disgrace, and although the dis- 
senters of Colleton County opposed the measure, alleging 
that the governor only wanted to capture Indians and sell 
them to the West Indies, the public supported him. The 
Assembly had voted two thousand pounds. Six hundred 
young men volunteered, a like number of friendly Indians 
were engaged, and ten little vessels were assembled at 
Port Royal to convey the Governor and his force. A part 
of the small army commanded by Colonel Daniel was to 
make its way overland and take the town from the rear. 
Colonel Daniel was a gallant soldier, who had been in the 
colony for some years, had worked against Colleton, and 
had been, with Moore, specially legislated against by the 
Proprietors. Now he was second in command, and all 
that was done to save the unhappy expedition from failure 
was done by him. 

It seems inconceivable that such an enterprise could 
have been planned and put in motion all in the same 
month of September, 1702, but so the authorities assure 
us. It proved, as might have been expected, " Raw haste 
half sister to delay." When Colonel Daniel, having 
marched all across South Carolina and Georgia (presently 
speaking), and carrying his men by boat through the 
creeks and waterways which connect the mouth of the St. 
John's with the Matanzas River, had taken the wretched 
little town of St. Augustine, there was nothing more to 



40 CHARLESTON 

do. The Spaniards had withdrawn into their fortress — 
the moat was full — the drawbridge raised. They were 
provisioned for four months and the Carolinians had no 
ammunition for the cannon which Moore brought on his 
vessels ! 

It was an absurd predicament, for they must have 
known the strength of the fort. To get the bombs was 
the only possible way out of it, and Colonel Daniel, 
" being hearty in the design," " the life of the action," was 
sent to Jamaica to bring them. He went and returned 
with all possible haste, but in the meanw r hile two Spanish 
vessels (which were afterward found to have been incon- 
siderable) appeared off the bar. They were supposed to 
be men-of-war, and " Colonel Moore retreated with no 
great honour homewards." The Indian king when told 
by him " to hasten " said, " No, though your Honour 
leaves me, I will not go till my men have gone before 
me." 

Unrebuked by these words, Moore made no arrange- 
ment for warning Colonel Daniel, who on his return with 
the ammunition was chased and nearly captured by the 
Spaniards. A reluctant vote of thanks was wrung from 
the Assembly for the Governor, but Colonel Daniel was 
warmly praised. 

The story is curious, for Moore was undoubtedly a brave 
man. The historians belonged to the opposite party, 
which fact should be taken into consideration. Years 
after, when a cooler head, Sir Nathaniel Johnson, was 
Governor, Moore planned and successfully carried out an 
expedition against the Appalachian Indians, who, living 
northwest of St. Augustine, were not only the allies and 
pupils, but the food purveyors of the Spaniards. This 
little war was brilliantly executed. With fifty white men 
and some Indians, Moore marched against and stormed 
seven well-made Spanish-Indian forts, securing many 



CHURCH ACTS 41 

prisoners and considerable booty ("ten horses loaded 
with provisions, the church plate of the Spanish chapel, 
and fourteen hundred Indians"). Three men of names 
well known were killed, gallantly fighting: Francis Plow- 
den, Thomas Dale, and John Bellinger — the last probably 
the son of the Landgrave. Moore was able to make a 
triumphant report. 

" The Indians have now a mighty respect for the whites. 
Appalatchia is now reduced to so feeble and low a condi- 
tion that it can neither support St. Augustine with provi- 
sions nor distract, endanger or frighten us." 

The Committee of Inquiry add with satisfaction, " This 
important service was effected without putting this Gov- 
ernment to the least expence." 

Moore's reputation as a soldier was restored, but the 
people neither forgot nor forgave the dishonour and the 
debt of six thousand pounds which the ill-starred expedi- 
tion to St. Augustine had brought upon them and from 
which the province long suffered. 

These events had a more important effect upon the 
future of the colony than at first appeared. It cannot be 
doubted that they did much to increase the dissatisfaction 
of the colonists with the Proprietary Government. They 
found themselves sorely embarrassed by the consequences 
of a military expedition of which they were forced to bear 
the whole cost. Although the frontier province, and 
fighting against the declared enemies of England, no 
assistance was given them even now when Queen Anne's 
War was raging. 

They thought of their slaughtered brethren of Cardross's 
time, to avenge whom they had vainly asked assistance, 
and of their own humiliated men and empty coffers ; and 
looked with envy upon the Royal Provinces which had 
only to appeal to the Sovereign to have ships and regi- 
ments sent for their defence. An appeal to the Crown 



42 CHARLESTON 

was now constantly in their thoughts, and henceforward 
in every emergency they endeavoured to use their right 
of petition to the highest authority. It was the principle 
which soon overthrew the Proprietary, and afterward the 
Royal Government. 

The appointment in 1702 of Sir Nathaniel Johnson as 
Governor was deservedly popular. Sir Nathaniel was a 
stout old soldier, a stern and unbending Tory, who, as a 
stanch adherent of the Stuarts, had been coldly looked 
upon by the Proprietors in the reign of William and 
Mary. His government of the Leeward Isles had then 
been taken from him, because, like his noble old Palatine, 
Lord Craven, he had refused to abandon his King. On 
his coming to Charles Town, Governor Colleton had been 
specially warned against him by the Lords, as the " worst 
of the Goose Creek Men." But now times were changed: 
Queen Anne was on the throne, the Tories were in 
power, and toasts were drunk to "The King — over the 
water." Moreover France and Spain were leagued 
against England, and military experience was too valuable 
to neglect. 

All congratulated themselves upon having a good soldier 
for their chief, and none apparently apprehended any 
trouble from his well-known High Church principles. 

Sir Nathaniel was unfortunately as earnest for the 
Church as for the sword, and in fact was approved by 
Lord Granville, the Palatine of the day, chiefly for that 
reason. Lord Granville was an absolute bigot, and was 
indignant at the liberty which the non-conformists had 
enjoyed in the previous reign in England ; and at the 
remarkably large share in the government of the colony 
of Ashley River, which they had exercised from its very 
beginning. At first this had seemed natural, for the 
dissenters were among the best of the people and there 
had been no religious animosity. But as has been shown 



CHURCH ACTS 43 

there had lately been disputes, and the dissenters, espe- 
cially those of Colleton County, had acted as such, as a 
party. 

Lord Granville determined that in his little dominion 
at least such presumption should be stopped, and he 
found a zealous agent in Governor Johnson. 

By the Royal Charter the Church of England had been 
expressly established ; and in the Fundamental Constitu- 
tion, there was a clause which, never disputed, might be 
said to have been in abeyance. It was : — 

" As the country comes to be sufficiently planted and 
distributed into fit divisions, it shall belong to the Parlia- 
ment to take care for the building of churches and the 
public maintenance of divines, to be employed in the exer- 
cise of religion, according to the church of England ; 
which being the true and orthodox, and the only national 
religion, of all the king's dominions, is so also of Carolina, 
and therefore it alone shall be allowed to receive public 
maintenance by grant of Parliament." 

If this clause had been held to enjoin merely the build- 
ing of churches and paying of parsons, there would have 
been little discontent, but Lord Granville had a terribly 
logical mind, and his argument was, " If a man holds a 
false and illegal religion, lie cannot be fit to sit in Parlia- 
ment and legislate for people who know the truth." 
Therefore he resolved to stop the procession of members, 
deputies, counsellors, and governors of this reprehensible 
sort, who had too long ruled in the colony ! It was an 
extraordinary position to take, considering that two of his 
present co-Proprietors — Archdale and Blake — were, one a 
Quaker, the other an Independent. Not considering this 
weak point in his armour, Granville ordered Johnson to 
execute his plan. Sir Nathaniel was nothing loath, for 
he honestly believed the Palatine to be right, and besides, 
being a soldier he obeyed his commanding officer. He 



44 CHARLESTON 

was accused by the opposite party of other motives. He 
was a friend of Moore's, and the vexation at, and inquiry 
into, his failure being still on foot it was said : — 

" Sir Nathaniel Johnson by a chymical wit, zeal and 
art transmuted or changed this civil difference into a 
religious controversy, and so setting up a standard for 
those called High Church, ventured all to exclude the 
Dissenters out of the Assembly, as being those chiefly 
that were for a strict examination into the miscarriage 
of the Augustine expedition." Johnson summoned a 
Parliament, which was declared by the dissenters to be 
as illegal as Moore's had been. They declared that 
" Jews, strangers, sailors, servants, negroes, and almost 
every Frenchman in Craven and Berkeley Counties came 
down to vote, and their votes were taken. The persons 
by them voted for, were returned by the Sheriff." 

The real sting in this accusation was in the "French- 
man." The French had been naturalized some years, be- 
fore and had now the right to vote, but to the great 
provocation of the non-conformists it appeared that, 
Calvinism notwithstanding, the sympathies of the Hugue- 
nots were with the churchmen, who had been kind and 
generous to them in their days of trial. In any division 
their votes would be given to them, and the numerical 
majority of the dissenting party be lost. Opposition was 
brewing when like a thunderbolt came a resolution intro- 
duced by Colonel Risbee, May 4, 1704, requiring that 
all members of the Assembly must "take the oaths and 
conform to the religious worship of the Church of England, 
and receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper according 
to the rites of the said church." The preamble to the 
act also stated that the admitting of persons of different 
persuasions to sit in the Commons House had obstructed 
the public business and that the above act was according 
to the laws and usage of England in regard to members 



CHURCH ACTS 45 

of Parliament. This last statement was not true, for 
members of Parliament were not then obliged to receive 
the Sacrament. The indignation was instant and violent, 
but the bill was passed with all due forms with suspicious 
rapidity, being signed at once by the Governor and five 
members of his Council. Landgrave Morton wished, but 
was not permitted, to record his protest. In the House 
it only passed by a majority of one; still it was law. 
The dissenters were very naturally enraged, and the 
churchmen greatly divided. The Governor had on his 
side the majority of his Council and many prominent 
gentlemen, especially Colonel William Rhett, and Chief 
Justice Trott — the most accomplished soldier, and the 
most brilliant lawyer of the colony ; but others were 
much disturbed. Hitherto the clause in the Constitution 
had been interpreted that St. Philip's predominated all 
other places of worship, and that the salary of its Rector, 
the good and amiable Dr. Marshall, who had died in 1699, 
4 the year of the sickness,' should be paid from the pub- 
lic treasury ! None grumbled at this, all were alike 
proud of the handsome edifice and fond of the good rec- 
tor, to whose widow the colonists had been so generous as 
to win the praise of the Proprietors. Now all was hate 
and contention, and moderate men reflected sadly that 
they had long lived in peace and amity with their non- 
conformist brethren, and some were old enough to remem- 
ber the evils of attaching religious tests to political rights. 
All were amazed, however, when the leader of the 
opposition was found to be, not some justly indignant 
Presbyterian or Baptist, but the new rector of St. Phil- 
ip's, the Reverend Mr. Marston. Mr. Marston had been 
sent out to take charge of the only Episcopal Church 
then existing outside of Charles Town ; a little building 
thirty feet square, erected only the year before by Sir 
Nathaniel Johnson himself, on Cooper River in the neigh- 



46 CHARLESTON 

bourhood of his place " Silk Hope." It was built, curiously 
enough, on land belonging to Pierre de St. Julien, a 
Huguenot emigrant, " Pompion Hill Plantation," and 
shows the friendly relations already existing between 
the French and their Anglican neighbours. Whether the 
transference from this little chapel to the importance of 
St. Philip's (a transference caused by the death of Mr. 
Marshall, and there being no other clergyman in the col- 
ony to take his place) had got into Mr. Marston's head, 
or whether he had really experienced a change of heart, 
we have no means of judging. Certain it is that having 
been an ultra- Jacobite whose practice it was " for many 
years almost every Lord's Day to preach against the Dis- 
senters whom he treated with so much roughness and 
severity that they had wholly deserted the Church, and 
were become very great enemys to his person and minis- 
try, and were wont to speak of him in very indecent terms 
of disrespect," he now became an ultra-liberal ; took the 
field in defence of those whom he had reviled and preached 
the most furious sermons against Sir Nathaniel and the 
Assembly, making trying comparisons to Korah, Abijah, 
etc. His astonished parishioners tried in vain to restrain 
him, and the insulted Assembly commanded him to "lay 
his sermons before the' House " ; but he, declaring himself 
independent of " all authority save Christ's," defied Gov- 
ernor and Parliament and continued his diatribes. The 
Assembly tried the "pocket pinch." It expressly dis- 
claimed all intention of interfering with matters belong- 
ing to his " Ecclesiastical Governors and Ordinary," but it 
deprived him of "his emoluments, good brick house and 
plantation, two negro slaves, cattle, one hundred and fifty 
pounds annually, besides fees for marriages, christenings, 
etc." Mr. Marston rose superior to such considerations, 
and did not change his tone, thereby earning the respect 
due to disinterested if mistaken conduct. 



CHURCH ACTS 47 

The ultimate defeat of the Church Act was, although 
in a very indirect way, partly due to Mr. Mars ton's turbu- 
lence. His behaviour so rankled in the minds of his 
opponents, that when Mr. Ralph Izard offered the very 
commendable bill " An act for the establishment of reli- 
gious worship in this Province, according to the Church 
of England, and for the erecting churches for the public 
worship of God, and also for the maintenance of ministers 
and the building of convenient houses for them," another 
bill was enacted, appointing a commission of twenty 
laymen who should have authority on their discretion to 
remove from his benefice any clergyman of whom his 
parishioners should complain — a measure unheard of in 
the Church of England. This act was directly inspired 
by the conduct of Mr. Marston, and certainly usurped the 
powers of the " Ecclesiastical Superiors and Ordinary." 

In the meanwhile, very early in the affair, the dissenters 
had despatched an agent, Mr. Thomas Ash, to England 
with an appeal to the Lords Proprietors. Lord Granville, 
as might have been expected, received it with haughty 
contempt, but Mr. Archdale stood up for the rights of the 
people. Mr. Ash died, and Mr. Boone, a merchant and 
planter, son-in-law to Landgrave Axtell, was sent to re- 
place him. With the help of the London merchants he 
succeeded in bringing a petition before the House of 
Lords. Had the Tories still held office, his success would 
have been more than doubtful, but the Whigs were again 
in power and resented the denial of the suffrage to the 
non-conformists. Boone (a fervent dissenter) interested 
the bishops, and especially the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel, against the clause of the lay commission, 
and finally the peers presented the matter to the Queen 
herself, asking that she "who had shown so great a con- 
cern for all her subjects, would extend her compassion to 
her distressed people who had the misfortune to be at so 



48 CHARLESTON 

great a distance from her Royal person, and not so immedi- 
ately under her gentle administration." 

Her Majesty referred the case to the great law officers 
of the Crown, and the attorney and solicitor-general 
decided " That the acts not being consonant to reason, 
and being repugnant to the laws of England, were not 
warranted by the Charter and were without sufficient 
authority from the Crown, and therefore did not bind the 
inhabitants of the Colony. Her Majesty might therefore 
lawfully declare these laws null and void, and require the 
Proprietors and Assembly of the Province to abrogate 
them." This her Majesty promptly did, and the decision 
was despatched to Charles Town. There was nothing to 
be done but to obey. One can imagine Sir Nathaniel's 
astonishment at such a blow from his Queen, and the joy 
of the opposition. The bill had been carried originally 
by one vote, and in a subsequent session an attempt had 
been made to repeal it, which had only failed because the 
wrathful Governor had sent the members about their 
business, reproaching them as "unsteady." Now (how 
reluctantly we may easily suppose), the Parliament being 
convened March, 1706, he sent them a message reciting 
the events in England. How their acts had given offence, 
and that " in order to give full satisfaction to the Lords, 
the Bishops, and the S. P. G. he proposed that all the said 
acts be repealed and another ' for the security of the 
Church ' be enacted." The provisions then proposed were 
excellent, and the law so wrongfully begun ended (the 
political feature being entirely eliminated) as a blessing 
to the country. 

Ten well-defined parishes were laid out, in which 
churches were soon built, the ministers being supplied 
by the generous society. The colony provided the par- 
sonages, and the benefit to the people cannot be over- 
estimated. Mr. Marston, declared to be " the pest of the 



CHURCH ACTS 49 

country, a common incendiary," was removed from his 
benefice, and peace was restored. 

In one respect the fears of the dissenters were realized. 
The Huguenots outside of the town cast in their lot with 
the Church. The settlement of St. James Santee, where 
there were about one hundred families, the people of 
which were (says Oldmixon) religious and industrious, 
in the year 1706 petitioned the Governor to "have their 
settlement made into a Parish, and signified their extream 
desire to be united to the Church of England, whose 
doctrine and discipline they did most highly esteam." 

Accordingly their church became the parish church of 
St. James Santee. This congregation, together with those 
of St. Denis and Orange Quarter, were allowed to use, 
until they should acquire the English tongue, a French 
translation of the prayer-book, made by particular direc- 
tion of his Majesty, King Charles II., and approved by 
the bishop of London. The Huguenot Church of Charles 
Town, having ample endowment, kept its own independent 
organization, which it preserves to this day. 

Sir Nathaniel Johnson was more successful in his own 
profession than in his civic and ecclesiastical experiments. 
From the moment of his appointment he had laboured 
to get the town into a condition of defence; had strength- 
ened the bastions, mounted guns, built a little fort on 
"Windmill Point," the seaward extremity of James Island, 
had stationed a guard on Sullivan's Island opposite, and 
reorganized the militia of the Province. 

Only four months after the settlement of the late dif- 
ferences the French and Spanish alliance became threat- 
ening, and the Governor sent a fast-sailing privateer to 
cruise in the neighbourhood of Havana and bring word of 
any gathering of ships in that direction. On the 24th of 
August the privateer came to harbour under press of sail, 
having been chased by five French vessels, with both 



50 CHARLESTON 

French and Spanish soldiers on board. Sir Nathaniel was 
at the moment at Silk Hope, sixty miles away, but Colonel 
William Rhett, who, after the fashion of those days, was, 
like Prince Rupert, both soldier and sailor, and bore the 
title of vice-admiral, took command. He sent despatches 
for the Governor and for the county militia and summoned 
all citizens to arms by beat of drum. Yellow fever was 
again raging in the town. Among its victims was the late 
Governor James Moore, thus prevented from taking what 
might have been a gallant part in the defence. 

The fever greatly increased the trouble, for the country 
troops were especially liable to it. 

The Governor arrived next day, his presence greatly 
encouraging the people. The militia came hurrying in, 
and were sent to encamp a mile without the walls to avoid 
the pest. 

To a Carolinian it is interesting to observe the first 
appearance in arms, of names well known in later wars 
and still identified with the same localities. Captain 
(afterward Governor) Logan came down from Goose 
Creek with a troop of horse (called " the gentlemen of 
Colonel Logan's troop "), and Major Broughton of Mul- 
berry led two companies from Cooper River. " Mulberry 
Castle," the pride of the river, was not yet built, but the 
place already had its name, a part of the " Broughton 
Barony." A Seabrook came as captain from Edisto, the 
centre of the late dissent; and Captain Longbois marched 
sixty Frenchmen from South Santee to fight for their new 
country. Captain Cantey commanded a body of friendly 
Indians. Johnson and Hyrne came from James Island. 

In the town itself were Colonel William Rhett, first of 
the name in Carolina, Captain John Barnwell, a gallant 
Irishman, who was soon to win fame in a desperate cam- 
paign, and many others. Colonel Daniel was not there, 
he had been sent as lieutenant-governor to North Carolina. 



THE COUNTRY FOR THE QUEEN 51 

Before all were assembled " five separate smokes" ap- 
peared on the extremity of Sullivan's Island, the signal by 
which the watchman was to give notice of the approach 
and number of the enemy. The drums beat to quarters 
and the men stood ready, but instead of a rapid advance, 
the ships — a frigate and four armed sloops — stopped to 
sound the South Bar — the channel which the Proprie- 
tors had warned the Council to "mind," many years 
before. Then crossing, they came on with a fair wind 
and sails set for the town. Seeing, however, the forts 
prepared and flags flying, they turned back to anchor 
off Sullivan's Island for the night, and the next day 
sent in a flag of truce. The officer was received by 
Captain Evans, the commander of Granville Bastion 
(the foundations of which may still be seen at the 
head of the East Battery), and led blindfold into the 
fort. Here he was asked to wait until the Governor could 
receive him; then after being led around and about and 
made to believe that the force was much greater than it 
was, he was presented to the Governor who asked his 
errand. It was to demand for Monsieur de Feboure, 
Admiral, in the name of the Kings of France and Spain, 
" the surrender of the town and country, and of their 
persons as prisoners of war, — allowing one hour for the 
answer." Sir Nathaniel answered: " There was no occa- 
sion for one minute to answer that message — he held the 
town and country for the Queen of England, and could 
trust his men who would rather die than surrender. The 
place should be defended to the last drop of blood, he (the 
messenger) might go when he pleased and acquaint Mon- 
sieur de Feboure with the answer." 

The men applauded and prepared for action. The 
French, instead of attacking, sent marauding parties into 
the neighbourhood. On James Island the Indians rushed 
screaming through the woods and quickly put them to 



52 CHARLESTON 

flight, but on " Wando Neck," behind Sullivan's Island, a 
large party who had plundered the adjacent plantations 
were feasting merrily on the cattle and pigs which they 
had carried off, when Captain Cantey with "a hundred 
picked men " fell suddenly upon them, killed and cap- 
tured some and chased the others to their boats. In the 
meanwhile the Governor had hastily armed a few small 
vessels, and with these Colonel Rhett sailed down to at- 
tack the fleet. The French, seeing him coming, weighed 
anchor, and stood out to sea with all speed. The next 
night word was brought that " a ship of Force " was in 
Sewee Bay, a few miles north of Charles Town. Again 
Colonel Rhett sailed forth, and Captain Fenwicke went 
by land to the attack. The capture was made with but 
slight loss, the Frenchmen never firing a shot. Monsieur 
Arbuset, chief in command of the military part of the 
expedition, was on board, and, together with the " sea 
officers," offered a ransom of ten thousand pieces of eight. 
In all, three out of eight hundred men were killed or 
taken prisoners, and the invasion was repelled, practically 
putting an end to the Spanish claim that Carolina was a 
part of Florida. The joy was great. The people felt their 
honour restored, the Governor thanked them for their 
spirited conduct, and the Proprietors granted him a large 
tract of land with many flattering commendations. The 
historians do not tell us if they repaid the expenses of the 
defence which Sir Nathaniel had borne entirely. 

This all took place immediately after the obnoxious 
Church Act had been repealed, and that which was to 
carry Christianity and enlightenment into the wilds sub- 
stituted for it. It might be supposed that the brave old 
knight would have been left in peace to wind his silk and 
enjoy his laurels, but religious animosity dies hard and he 
was removed two years later, in consequence of the false 
and factious representations to the Proprietors of the same 



THE COUNTRY FOR THE QUEEN 53 

Mr. Boone who had so skilfully fought the battle of the 
non-conformists in Parliament. The old man made a 
brave defence to the Assembly, vindicating his honour 
and defying his accuser, "when had he conspired with 
the French and what Indians had he abused?" Mr. 
Boone fled the town rather than be brought to the bar of 
the House to maintain his accusations, and the Assembly 
replied in terms of the utmost veneration and respect to 
their old Belisarius, " a man almost worn out with sick- 
ness and old age." They also petitioned the Proprietors 
in his behalf, but the mischief was done, the superseding 
appointment had been already made, and he withdrew into 
retirement. 

This account of Governor Johnson's administration has 
been given thus minutely because two points of great im- 
portance were then settled. 

The Province was delivered from the fear of Spain, and 
the union of Church and State, hitherto theoretic, became 
actual. Church and State do not sound well to American 
ears, and the dissenters did certainly resent the payment 
of the salaries of " church parsons " out of the public treas- 
ury. On the other hand it must be remembered that the 
non-conformist leaders, all men of education and intelli- 
gence, knew perfectly well what a " church colony" meant, 
and had not crossed the ocean without learning the pro- 
visions of the Royal Charter and of the Fundamental 
Constitution. They had no right to resent the laws of a 
land to which they had come of their own free will, no 
man constraining them. The dissatisfaction arose from 
the fact that the law had not been observed for the first 
thirty years of the colony's existence ; now the dissatis- 
faction gradually died out, and when sixteen years later 
Mr. Peter Pury, of Neufchatel, proposed to bring a number 
of his countrymen to Carolina, he could truthfully say, 
" what is of the greatest importance of all is, that there is 



54 CHARLESTON 

an entire liberty of conscience and commerce for all that 
come hither, without paying anything for it, Justice is 
duly administrated to all, and everybody can say that what 
he possesses belongs to him in full Propriety." 

The " parish system " thus established, upon which life 
in the low country of Carolina hinged, continued un- 
changed to the Revolution, and with necessary modifica- 
tions down to 1865. Its influence was wide ; in early 
times much of the ordinary magistrate's business was, as 
in England, administered by the vestries ; in the country 
parishes the church became the centre for the too widely 
scattered plantations; schools were begun, bequests being 
made for their support, the bond of neighbourhood became 
a power, each parish forming a little world of its own. 

The parishes were divisions of the counties from the 
sea-coast to about one hundred miles inland, the most 
fertile portion of the province where were all the large 
plantations. Above that the undivided counties were in- 
habited chiefly by farmers with fewer people and smaller 
holdings. 

The " gentlemen of Carolina," Lawson says, had always 
had tutors for their sons ; but now the necessity for more 
general education was felt, and after much discussion a 
free school was established, of which Mr. John Douglas 
was to be master, " by the name and stile of Preceptor or 
Teacher of Grammar, and the other Arts and Sciences to 
be taught at the New School at Charles Town for the 
Province of South Carolina." It was required that the 
master should be able to " teach the Latin and Greek 
tongues and to catechise and instruct the youth in the 
principles of the Christian religion as proposed by the 
Church of England." A public library had been estab- 
lished as early as 1708 through the efforts of Dr. Bray, 
commissary of the bishop of London. It was called the 
Provincial Library and kept in the parsonage of St. 



THE COUNTRY FOR THE QUEEN 55 

Philip's, the rector being librarian. The citizens had a 
proper respect for books, for three years later they passed 
an act "because several of the books had been lost and 
others damnified," giving the librarian discretionary power 
to refuse the volumes to persons " that he shall think will 
not take care of the same." Also they paid Mr. Mosely 
five pounds, fifteen shillings for cataloguing them, quite a 
sum in those days. 

Another act of the same period " for the better observa- 
tion of the Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday," which, 
it is to be feared, was much needed, may have been induced 
by the representations of the Reverend Mr. Thomas, a most 
worthy man, who having been sent out by the S. P. G., 
became the minister of the little country church which 
had been left by Mr. Marston for St. Philip's. Mr. 
Thomas's letters are amusing. He had been sent especially 
to convert the noble savage so much " compassionated " in 
Charles II. 's time. The noble savage was better known 
now, and less enthusiasm felt for his evangelization, — at 
least in the colony. Nevertheless Mr. Thomas came with 
a store of prayer-books and "ten pounds worth of cloth 
to cloath ye wilde Indians." On his arrival he found 
that his intended converts, the Yemassees, had gone upon 
the war-path, and were too much occupied with the tak- 
ing of scalps to listen to him. Also some painful consid- 
erations were presented. 

"Persons who knew those Indians assured me that a 
missionary could not, in this time of war, reside among them 
without the utmost hazard of his life, it being common for 
the Spanish Indians to steal upon them in the night, and 
kill some and take others prisoners, and those Prisoners 
are some of them burnt alive, and others sold to the Span- 
iards for slaves; this ivas one great discouragement to my 
settlement among them during this war." Another "dis- 
couragement" was, that the Indians did "not understand 



56 CHARLESTON 

English, and their language is barbarous and savage " — 
which seems to have been a great surprise to him ! " A gen- 
tleman who had long traded among them and was a com- 
plete master of their tongue " had translated the Lord's 
Prayer, and instead of " Our Father which art in Heaven " 
was, as the nearest possible version, compelled to say " Our 
Father which art on top " and for " Thy Kingdom come " 
" Thy great towne come " " which I conceive are very im- 
proper expressions to convey to them the genuine sense of 
this most divine pra} T er." 

Mr. Thomas although not desirous of martyrdom, and 
without the spirit of an Eliot or a Xavier, was truly 
anxious to do good, and being invited by Sir Nathaniel to 
take charge of his Pompion Hill Chapel, and minister to 
his neighbours, was glad to do so. There were, he says, 
between that chapel and Charles Towne, in a distance of 
sixty miles, hundreds of English people who had never 
enjoyed a settled minister, the Sacraments were never ad- 
ministered to them, their children were unbaptized and 
growing up in ignorance, they themselves had in some in- 
stances forgot that they were Christians by name. They 
were, however, eager for help. "My poor labours were 
very acceptable to them, and did excite in them a vehe- 
ment thirst for God's ordinances ministerially dispensed." 
Very properly the poor gentleman thought that he would 
be better employed here than among the Yemassees or 
Tuscaroras; especially^ as he says " there are here one thou- 
sand negro slaves, eight hundred of whom can speak Eng- 
lish tolerably well, and are capable of religious instruction, 
many of them desirous of Christian knowledge," so he 
accepted Sir Nathaniel's offer, preached, prayed, cate- 
chised, and administered indefatigably, established a school, 
" taught five poor children free of charge," secured a fund 
for the purpose, and seems to have been an excellent parish 
priest. But to his dismay the same troublesome Mr. 



THE COUNTRY FOR THE QUEEN 57 

Marston fell upon him, accused him of deserting his mis- 
sion, driving a fellow-clergyman " distracted," and so on. 
The animus of course being that Mr. Thomas was the 
Governor's friend and chaplain. Mr. Thomas defended 
himself in the " Report to the Society," from which these 
extracts are given, and described Mr. Marston's character 
and mode of preaching as before quoted. His remarks 
sometimes are of value, as when in answer to " what is the 
character of the people ? " he says " in every parish are 
many proposing Christianity, and many heathens; among 
the English inhabitants are many of considerable learning, 
good judgment and acute parts, and many very ignorant; 
again there are some truly religious and conscientious, 
and others haters of religion and practical godliness." 

In other words, the people of the Province were like 
other men, of. various sorts; but he censured them forcibly 
for neglect of Sunday and for making their people work 
on that day. He declares that his ministry has been suc- 
cessful, speaks of "the religious care of our excellent 
Governor Sir Nathaniel Johnson," and adds "there is a 
debt of gratitude which I owe to the people of Carolina, 
and it is this ; to affirm that Mrs. Marshall, the widow of 
that Reverend Mr. Marshall, sometime of .... in 
Suffolk, and myself, are living testimonies of their civili- 
ties and kindnesses to the ministers of the Church of 
England, who demean themselves well and as becomes 
their sacred function." 

Unfortunately this sensible and useful man died while 
on a visit to England, where he had been sent by the Prov- 
ince to procure additional service for the Church. These 
long extracts have been given because at nearly the same 
time the Reverend Gideon Johnson affectionately described 
his flock as, " the vilest race of men upon the earth," 
etc. The reverend gentleman wrote thus upon first ar- 
rival, having been nearly drowned in crossing the bar; so 



58 CHARLESTON 

may have written under "some discouragement." He 
remained for eight years as rector of St. Philip's, well 
treated, his salary increased on account of his large fam- 
ily, — and well liked. His terrible indictment of his 
people was never known to them, and it is to be hoped 
that his opinion became modified in that time. By an odd 
stroke of fortune he was actually drowned on the bar just 
where he had nearly experienced the same fate so long 
before. 

It is certainly to the discredit of the English Church, 
that its members, the men of wealth of the colony, should 
have let so many years go by without providing more places 
of worship outside of the town. There were in 1702 sev- 
eral non-conformist and three Huguenot churches. It may 
be that the English demanded something more costly for 
their solemn ritual than did the dissenters or the " Church 
of the Wilderness," to whom any shelter was sufficient for 
the expression of " The simple faith that asks no more 
than that the heart be warm." 

Probably this religious indifference in the higher and 
ignorance in the lower class, were reasons for the influence 
which the more God-fearing and sober-living independents 
had exercised. When the parish churches were built, they 
were small but worthy of their use. The oldest of all, St. 
James's, Goose Creek, sixteen miles from Charles Town, is 
yet standing. The Royal Arms still shine in red and gold 
above the chancel, and the " hatchment " of Ralph Izard 
still hangs upon the wall, a memory of the English rule. 



CHAPTER V 

TUSCARORAS AND YEMASSEES 

THERE now occurred a curious little episode, what 
might almost be called a family quarrel, between two 
highly respectable gentlemen, in a contest for the Govern- 
orship. 

The law ran that if any Governor should die in office, 
the deputies of the Proprietors should choose one of them- 
selves to act until their Lordships' pleasure could be 
known. It so happened that Colonel Tynte, who had 
superseded Sir Nathaniel, died after a few months' incum- 
bency when there were only three deputies in the Province. 
They were Colonel Thomas Broughton, Governor John- 
son's son-in-law, Mr. Robert Gibbes (both " Goose Creek 
men"); and Mr. Fortescue Turbeville, a late arrival. 
There were two sessions on the same day for the election; 
practically Turbeville was the sole elector. At the sec- 
ond (afternoon) session, he gave his vote for Gibbes, who 
was proclaimed Governor. Turbeville was then struck by 
apoplexy and died. It was discovered that in the morn- 
ing he had voted for Broughton, had been bribed during 
the recess, had changed his vote accordingly, and had then 
met his fate. It reminds one of Earl Godwin choking on 
the consecrated wafer, and Earl Godwin was thought to 
have been smitten by the vengeance of the Lord. 

Thereupon Colonel Broughton claimed the office as hav- 
ing received the honest, unbought (morning) vote of the 

59 



60 CHARLESTON 

dead man. The quarrel was sharp and threatened to be 
bloody. Colonel B rough ton came down with armed men 
from Mulberry to support his claim. Governor Gibbes, 
being in possession, closed the gates and raised the draw- 
bridge. Broughton's friends within the walls attempted 
to lower the bridge, and after some scuttling suet ceded in 
doing so. Gibbes wisely forbade his men to tire, and 
Broughton and his party entered the town. There was 
much riding to and fro — many speeches and proclama- 
tions drowned by the shouts of the mob, some flourishing 
of swords and a few shots which did no harm, and then — 
mediators interfered, calmer counsels prevailed, and it was 
resolved to leave the decision to the Proprietors. Their 
Lordships unhesitatingly rejected both gentlemen and ap- 
pointed the Honourable Edward Craven, grandson of the 
old Palatine, but Mr. Gibbes held the office for about a 
year, until Mr. Craven arrived, with ability and credit. 

The chief scene of this riding and rioting was the square 
at the foot of Broad Street in front of the watch house — 
now the old post-office and the half moon opposite old St. 
Philip's, now St. Michael's. The affair is called in old 
stories of Carolina " Broughton's Rebellion." 

Governor Gibbes was still in office when news came 
from North Carolina that the Tuscarora Indians had fallen 
upon the white settlers along the Neuse River, and that 
every atrocity had been committed. 

The Governor at once convened the Assembly which 
promptly voted men and money and offered the command 
to Colonel John Barnwell, who had already distinguished 
himself in Le Feboure's invasion. Colonel Barnwell ac- 
cepted immediately and, as soon as a force, chiefly oi Indi- 
ans, could be collected, set out. and marching through 
woods and swamps, joined Governor Hyde near Newborn, 
North Carolina. Here the Indians had a strong fort and 
LntrenchmentS, but they were soon completely routed. The 






TUSCARORAS AND YEMASSEES 61 

fort unfortunately could not be stormed, for it was filled 
with white captives, who screamed to the assailants that 
they would be murdered at the first attack. Terms were 
therefore granted and the prisoners liberated. 

Colonel Barnwell, ever after known as "Tuscarora Jack," 
who was severely wounded, returned with his men to 
Charles Town, with the warmest thanks of the North 
Carolinians who afterward named a fort in his honour. 
Enough Indians remained to renew hostilities next year, 
but he was not sufficiently recovered to take the field 
again, and James Moore, son of the former Governor, went 
in command of the force then sent, which finally subdued 
the savages. 

Four years later the war cloud burst upon South Caro- 
lina herself. There had long been plantations in the 
neighbourhood of Port Royal (one of them belonging to 
Colonel Barnwell), but since Cardross's time, there had 
been no attempt at an extensive settlement. In 1710, how- 
ever, the Proprietors ordered that a town should be laid 
out to be called " Beaufort Town," after the Proprietor of 
that name, lands surveyed, and settlers invited. All this 
in the near neighbourhood of the Yemassees, a tribe in 
close communication with the Spaniards, of which Sir 
Nathaniel in his farewell report had said " they have five 
hundred fighting men and are grown great warriors." The 
Indian will always fight for his lands, and St. Augustine 
was close behind with arms and encouragement. There 
were signs of discontent and unrest, but the first real alarm 
came when a canoe was paddled up to the town by John 
Fraser, a Scotch trader from the southward, flying with 
his wife and child from the trouble to come. His story 
was, that two days before, Sanute, a Yemassee chief, who 
had become much attached to him and his family, had 
warned them that in a few days, " as soon as the bloody 
stick should be sent," the Creeks and Cherokees would 



62 CHARLESTON 

join his people and that they would together fall upon the 
whites and leave not one alive. Eraser had refused to 
believe the story, but the chief had repeated it, with every 
solemn sign of sincerity that an Indian could give, and 
had ended by promising that if they insisted upon remain- 
ing, he would, when the time came, kill them with his 
own hands to save them from tortures worse than death. 

Mrs. Fraser, terrified, insisted upon flight, and Sanute 
lent them his own canoe for the voyage. There was some 
incredulity, but Governor Craven despatched Captain 
Nairne, the "agent for Indian affairs," and some other 
gentlemen to visit the chief near Pocotaligo, about sixty 
miles south of Charles Town, inquire into the dissatisfac- 
tion, and offer redress for all grievances. 

Captain Nairne was a Scotch gentleman, who had, a few 
years earlier, been accused of complicity in the plot to put 
the Pretender on the throne when Queen Anne should 
die, — in which the famous " Henry Esmond " was so 
deeply concerned. He had been imprisoned on the charge, 
but had vindicated his loyalty, and was now a person of 
confidence. It was hardly judicious to send a handful of 
unarmed men to confer with a tribe of infuriated savages, 
but such has always been the English custom, a result of 
that splendid audacity which rules the world. It is not 
so many years since Sir Louis Cavagnari and his escort 
were done to death in Afghanistan. 

The confidence on this occasion was so great that one 
man took his wife and children with him to the confer- 
ence ! Cordially received, they went to rest. At break 
of day the war-whoop sounded and all but one were mur- 
dered. That one, a strong young man, Captain Burroughs, 
broke from his captors, and springing into the river swam 
across, and ran through the woods to Port Royal, rousing 
the country as he went. By this warning about three 
hundred inhabitants of that neighbourhood and of St. 



TUSCABORAS AND YEMASSEES 63 

Helena were saved. A merchant ship lying in the 
entrance took them on board. 

The country was ablaze. The " bloody stick," the 
equivalent of the Highlanders' fiery cross, had done its 
work. The savages swept the country for fifty miles, 
killing and burning. The people fled before them, but 
with scant means of transportation, few escaped. About 
one hundred and ninety were killed between the Combahee 
and Stono rivers, a distance of fifty miles. The Stono is 
but ten miles from Charles Town. The light of the burn- 
ing houses, the old people used to say, could be seen from 
the walls. 

In all haste the Governor assembled the militia and 
marched to meet the enemy. They fell back to the Com- 
bahee and then attacked his camp. After a hard fight he 
put them to flight, leaving many of their chief warriors 
dead on the field. Routing an Indian army is like 
scattering a swarm of bees, — from the nearest tree they 
start out and sting again. It was impossible for Craven 
to stay to follow up his victory, and leaving Captains 
Mackay and Palmer to complete the work, he hastened 
back to Charles Town. He came none too soon, for an- 
other large body of Indians was approaching from the 
northward, murdering as they came. 

They laid waste the frontier parishes and defeated a 
troop of cavalry commanded by Captain Barker who was 
killed, but when within sixteen miles of Charles Town, 
they were met by Captain Chicken with the Goose Creek 
militia, and repulsed with great loss. The town was 
saved for the time being, but the danger remained. The 
situation looked well-nigh desperate. There were in the 
colony but fifteen hundred men capable of bearing arms; 
and there were nine hundred and sixty white women, and 
seventeen hundred children to be defended ! The Indian 
warriors were counted at from eight to ten thousand, and 



64 



CHABLESTON 



their leaders had fought under Barnwell, Moore, and 
Cantey. 

The danger of the outlying plantations was great. The 
parish of St. John's at the head of Cooper River was the 
outskirt of the settled country. On three plantations 
within supporting distance there were small forts. 
At " Wantoot," Mr. Daniel Ravenel's ; " Schinkins," Mr. 





Mulberry Castle, " Broughton's Fort," on Cooper River 

Izard's, and " Mulberry," Colonel Broughton's. " Mul- 
berry," but recently built, was the strongest house in the 
country, and the refuge of the neighbouring women and 
children when danger threatened. It stands on a high 
bluff above Cooper River, and is an imposing structure. 
The brick walls, several feet thick, are pierced for musketry 
in the lower story. At the four corners are small, square, 



TUSCARORAS AND YEMASSEES 65 

semidetached buildings with pointed roofs surmounted by 
ironwork vanes, six feet high, each having the date 1714. 
Under each of these a trap-door leads to a deep stone-paved 
cellar for the storage of ammunition, and a few years since 
two small cannon (date unknown) were ploughed up in an 
adjacent field. These buildings are called " flankers," but 
give the impression of turrets. Hence the place was 
always called " Mulberry Castle." It was built after the 
picture of " Seaton," the English home of the Broughtons, 
which may be seen engraved on their family tree. 

The forts at Wantoot and Schinkins were probably 
stockades. Unhappily the garrison at the latter place 
kept careless guard and made merry. While they were 
feasting, an Indian, supposed to be a " friendly," persuaded 
them to admit him. As soon as all were asleep he opened 
the gate for the entrance of his comrades. All the white 
men were murdered, many while still asleep; only one 
negro boy leapt the stockade, and running through the 
woods all the way to Wantoot gave the alarm. Major 
Hyrne, commanding the garrison there, immediately 
marched to Schinkins, and finding the Indians in turn 
overcome with liquor, put them all to the sword. 

The Governor acted with vigour and discretion. He 
ordered the women and children brought into the town, 
and all provisions collected and stored in safe places. In 
addition to the militia he armed two hundred trusty ne- 
groes. The negroes hated and dreaded the Indians, and 
no treachery or desertion was to be feared. He sent 
envoys to the Governors of North Carolina and Virginia, 
asking aid; and having seized all goods readily convert- 
ible into money for the benefit of the public, sent M. de la 
Conseilliere to New England to purchase arms. He also 
wrote an admirable letter, not to the Proprietors of whom 
his brother was one, but to the Secretary of State, detailing 
the situation and the measures he has taken to relieve it; 



66 CHARLESTON 

says that Carolina now exports so great a quantity of rice, 
peas, pitch, tar, and other naval stores as to be of great 
consequence to Great Britain; that the need for help is 
absolute, and " regrets that so fine a colony should be lost 
for want of men and arms " — " if once we are driven from 
hence the French from Moville (Mobile) or from Canada, 
or from old France will step in here if not prevented, and 
will be able to march against all or any colony on the main 
and threaten the whole British settlements." He says, " I 
trust his Majesty for everything." Neither King nor Pro- 
prietors did anything. The rebellion, "the fifteen," was 
in progress and his Majesty (George I) had work at 
home for all his soldiers. The Proprietors were suddenly 
smitten with legal doubts as to how far they could go in 
assisting their Province, and despite the despairing pro- 
tests of the colonists who sent agent after agent to reason 
and implore, they thought it safest (for themselves) to do 
nothing. 

North Carolina returned her obligations freely and 
promptly, sending a body of men under Maurice Moore, 
who had remained in that Province after the Tuscarora 
War. Mr. Arthur Middleton, the envoy to Virginia, found 
Governor Spotswood ready to furnish powder and shot, 
but most unwilling to part with men. With much difficulty 
and at high wages he was only able to get one hundred 
and fifty, and with these and the small force from her 
kindly neighbour, the Province fought out her fight. It 
lasted over a year. By that time, after another desperate 
battle near Stono, the power of the tribes was broken, 
most of the chiefs were killed, the numbers greatly re- 
duced, and the spirit subdued. 

The Yemassees, the leaders in the conspiracy, which is 
known as "the Yemassee War," departed to St. Augustine, 
carrying their spoils and captives with them. They were 
received as conquerors, with honour and acclamation as 



TUSCARORAS AND YEMASSEES 67 

having slain heretics and heathens. The other tribes were 
more thoroughly intimidated, and the power of the Prov- 
ince to guard itself was so well impressed upon them, that 
no concerted action was ever again attempted. The Yemas- 
sees from Spanish territory still made occasional descents 
upon isolated and exposed plantations. The danger on 
these outlying places long continued. Fortunately the 
names of many of the "Indian fighters" became such sym- 
bols of terror to the savages, as was the " Melek Rik " to 
the Saracens or the Black Douglas to the English, and 
protection to their homes. Such was that of Maurice 
Moore, who had driven the tribes across the Savannah even 
to the Hiawassee River. " He will run you like Maury 
Mo " became a proverb. The wife of another of these 
heroes, James McPherson, was sitting alone outside of her 
door, her husband having gone hunting, when suddenly 
from the wood quite near appeared three Indians. The 
lady was terrified, but had presence of mind enough to 
conceal it, and to gaze quietly at them. Two sprang for- 
ward to seize her, but the third interposed, "No, no touch, 
she Jimmy Squaw!" She was the grandmother of Colonel 
McPherson of the Revolution. 

There were darker stories than these, stories of women 
captured and children tortured. 

On the family tree of the Bulls, opposite to the name of 
John, youngest son of the emigrant Stephen, stands " 1st 
wife carried off by Indians 1715." They lived at Bulls, 
now Coosaw Island, just above St. Helena, and were in 
the very track of the storm. He too became an " Indian 
fighter." Another woman, Mrs. Burrows, was taken by 
a " scalping party " and carried with her child to St. 
Augustine. The child cried and was instantly killed, and 
she was ordered, under pain of death, not to weep for 
him! After being kept a prisoner several years, she was 
allowed to return to Charles Town, where she told the 



68 CHARLESTON 

Governor that the " Huspah King " who had captured 
her had told her that his orders from Spain were to kill 
every white man and bring every negro alive to St. Au- 
gustine, and that rewards were given for such services. 

The Province was saved, but at fearful cost; great loss 
of life and greater of property. Every plantation above 
twenty miles from, and some much nearer to, Charles 
Town was laid waste. Buildings and fences were burnt, 
animals killed or carried off. The terrified negroes fled 
to the woods, but many were taken to St. Augustine for 
the reward. The labour of years was lost and life was to 
begin again. In the town trade had come to a dead stop. 
The debts were terrible. It was declared that the " coun- 
try was ruined." It is, however, hard to ruin a country in 
which the natural elements of prosperity are great and 
the people industrious and courageous. Nothing daunted 
they set to work again, and this was the last attack upon 
the good town for sixty years. 

She had now, however, to part with her gallant Governor 
whom the people loved and trusted absolutely. He had 
had permission to return for some time past on account 
of the death of his father, but had refused to go until peace 
was restored. He had been brave in the field and wise in 
the council and for once honour was given where honour 
was due, the citizens agreeing most heartily in the report 
of the Lords of Trade to the Crown, 

" That the Honourable Charles Craven had behaved as 
a man of his quality ought, with the utmost bravery, and 
to his conduct it was owing that the country was not 
taken by the enemy. " 



CHAPTER VI 

THE CONQUEST OF THE PIRATES 

THE invention of the steam-engine, beneficent in many 
ways, lias in none been more blessed than in one but 
little thought of nowadays. It has abolished the Pirate. 

" The Pirate " was a name written large in the minds of 
our forefathers, — now known only to us in romance and 
story. Not all the combined fleets of his Majesty anni- 
hilated him so completely as that gigantic kettle, the steam- 
boiler. So long as sharp lines, spread of sail, bold 
seamanship, and utter recklessness could enable the fast 
schooner or brigantine to " show her heels " to the slow- 
sailing frigate or sloop of war, so long did rover after rover 
infest the seas. But when the long, black, steady steamer 
took the field, independent of wind and tide, tracking 
surely the robber to his den, then — unable to use steam 
himself, because he could get no coal — gradually the Pirate 
vanished from the waters, except in some remote South 
Asian Archipelago. Our fathers had no steam, and were 
for long at the mercy of these ruffians. 

Unhappily the colonies did not in their first years show 
a proper sense of their iniquity. The pirates did not 
in the beginning molest them (they were hardly worth 
molesting), but kept up an incessant warfare upon the 
Spaniard, — a proceeding well liked by his English neigh- 
bours. King Charles himself, who, in 1683, had "heard of 
the harbouring of pyrates and ordered such persons 
brought to justice," ended by knighting Morgan, the chief 
of buccaneers, and making him Governor of Jamaica. So 



70 CHARLESTON 

while the plundering was confined to Spanish galleons, the 
colonies looked on complacently, allowed the " gentlemen 
rovers " to swagger about the streets, spend freely their 
Mexican doubloons, and sell for a trifle the silks and wines 
taken from the ships outward bound. Smuggling, or il- 
licit trading, as it was more elegantly termed, was common 
and was frequently carried on by the pirates. Edward 
Randolph, " Collector of King's Customs," furious at the 
injury to the revenue, charges men in high places with 
complicity in these practices. Even the Governors do not 
escape him. He says of Archdale that "he permitts 
Py rates to land and bring their money quietly ashore, for 
which favour he was well paid by them." Randolph was 
hasty and prejudiced, but, exaggeration granted, there 
was probably some truth in his charges. Customs were 
heavy, the stolen goods cheap, and spoils taken from the 
Egyptians could not be held accursed. When, however, 
the colonies increased in wealth, and their own trade 
became important, the pirates no longer showed this nice 
discrimination. Booty was booty whether it came from 
New York or Charles Town instead of St. Augustine or 
Havana, and a vessel flying the English flag was no safer 
than if she showed the red and gold of Spain. 

An incredible number of ships were taken along the 
coast, and it was impossible to undertake even the shortest 
voyage without being in danger from these desperadoes. 

The Cape Fear River to the north and the island of 
New Providence to the south were their strongholds, from 
which they preyed upon the commerce and sometimes 
threatened the towns themselves. 

Things had come to a dreadful pass, when, in 1718, 
Robert Johnson, son of Sir Nathaniel, being Governor, a 
long-boat pulled audaciously up to the Charles Town 
wharf, sent with a message by a notorious pirate, one 
Thatch, or Blackbeard. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE PIRATES 71 

The message was peculiar. Blackbeard informed 
Governor Johnson that his crew was in want of medicines, 
and that unless the list of drugs forwarded was immedi- 
ately sent by his boat, the heads of Mr. Samuel Wragg, 
of his little son, and of some other citizens should be pre- 
sented to the Council. Mr. Wragg, a prominent mer- 
chant, and the others had sailed for England recently, and 
their ship was one of nine vessels which had been taken 
near the bar within a few days. 

The excitement may be imagined. The Governor, a 
fearless and resolute man, was furious at the insult ; the 
Council was divided in opinion. How could they submit 
to such an indignity ? How sacrifice so good a man ? 
But the friends and family of Mr. Wragg were unani- 
mous. Should the life of so valued a citizen be weighed 
in the balance with so useless a scruple ? An eminent 
merchant put to death for a few drugs ? The situation 
was horrible; the responsibility rested with Johnson, and 
he met it manfully. He reminded the people that the 
Proprietors and the Board of Trade had been repeatedly 
but vainly urged to send a frigate to protect the com- 
merce, — it was his duty to protect the lives of the citizens. 
The medicines should be sent, and then — measures must 
be taken. 

Meanwhile poor Mr. Wragg and his fellow-passengers 
had been in great terror. The boat had got aground and 
so been delayed. Blackbeard had been impatient and had 
shown so great a desire for their heads that they, with 
good reason, trembled for their lives. 

The drugs appearing, he plundered them of everything 
which they possessed, securing, it is said, $ 6000 in specie 
from Mr. Wragg alone, and sent them on shore almost 
naked. He then sailed away, carrying the spoils of the 
many vessels he had captured ; but sailed not so far but 
that other outrages were to be feared. 



72 CHARLESTON 

In this emergency, of which Johnson wrote instantly to 
London, Colonel Rhett came to his Excellency's assistance. 
Rhett was no friend to Johnson, or indeed to any Gov- 
ernor ; his proud, imperious temper found it hard to accept 
a superior. He had been long in the colony and felt 
himself a master, so that more than once the Proprietors 
had to rebuke, and on one occasion to suspend him from 
office, until he could bend his haughty spirit to apologize 
to the Governor ; a man calmer and more judicious, but 
brave and determined as himself. When, however, it was 
a question of battle, the soldierly vice-admiral came to 
the front, and proposed that a couple of merchant vessels 
should be hastily armed, and that he himself should go 
out and meet the rovers. Johnson was glad to accept the 
offer, and in a very few days the sloops Henry and Sea 
Nymph were fitted with eight guns and about seventy men 
apiece, and made ready. Rhett put to sea hardly knowing 
where to find his enemy, who had been cruising along the 
coast from Cape Race to Florida, plundering as he went ; 
but hearing that he was near the Cape Fear, determined 
to seek him there. 

On arriving they saw, across the bend of the river, the 
pirate vessel well up the stream and sheltered from attack. 
But the Pirate had seen them, and early next morning his 
great vessel, the Royal James, came flying down the river 
with sails set, the "Jolly Rover" at the masthead and 
guns cleared for action. She swept down, evidently try- 
ing to pass the sloops and gain the open sea. Rhett, in 
order to interrupt her, closed his vessels in and drove her 
from the channel so that she stuck hard and fast aground 
on a sand shoal. 

In another moment the sloops were aground also, — the 
Henry within pistol shot of the James, the Sea Nymph 
considerably lower downstream. 

The tide was on the ebb, there was no hope of release 



THE CONQUEST OF THE PIRATES 73 

for hours; both had listed the same way, and lay almost in 
line, so that the hull of the Pirate was turned toward the 
Carolinian, while the deck of the latter was exposed to him. 

In this absurd position, more like two small forts ex- 
changing shots than ships engaging, Rhett, undaunted, 
opened fire. The enemy instantly returned a broadside 
which, on account of the position, swept the deck of the 
Henry with deadly effect. It was death to man the guns, 
but the Charles Town men stood to their posts, and also 
kept up a musketry fire upon the pirate crew. 

The rover, seeing their losses and his own advantage, 
expected an easy victory. "Made a wiff with their bloody 
flag and waved to us with their hats to come aboard and 
surrender." This being answered with cheers and deri- 
sion, the fight went on for five hours ; then the tide turned, 
and the chance of victory with it. The Henry floated 
first. As soon as she righted, Rhett prepared to grapple 
and board, but terror now possessed the pirates. They 
saw that the Sea Nymph had floated also and was coming 
to the help of her consort and mutinied against their 
captain who would have fought to the last. He threat- 
ened to shoot them with his own hands, but they over- 
powered him, threw down their arms, and gave up the ship. 

To his amazement Rhett found that he had captured 
not Thatch, but Stede Bonnet, one of the most re- 
markable of the many remarkable characters of that 
time. He was a gentleman by birth and education, of 
excellent manners and fair estate, had been a major 
in the army, and afterward a citizen of Bridgetown. 
There seemed no reason why he should have suddenly 
taken to piracy ; but having done so, he became one 
of the fiercest of his dreadful trade. Once he appar- 
ently repented, made submission, and took the King's 
pardon then offered, but immediately returned to his 
villainy. 



74 CHARLESTON 

A day or two were spent in repairing the damaged 
sloops, and then Colonel Rhett returned in triumph with 
the Royal James as a prize and Bonnet and thirty of his 
crew in irons "To the great joy of the whole Province." 
Eighteen Carolinians were killed and many more wounded. 

There was difficulty in finding safekeeping for so many 
prisoners for there was no jail, but the men were locked 
up in the watch house, while Bonnet and two others were 
given in charge to the marshal who was to keep them 
under guard in his own house. 

The trial of these men was remarkable. Chief Justice 
Trott, commissioned by the King as well as by the Lords, 
was to hold a Court of Admiralty and try them by an old 
statute of King Henry VIII., somewhat revised to suit 
the circumstances. It may have been originally enacted 
for that " bold rover that lyes on the seas and robs us of 
our merchant ware, Sir Andrew Barton, Knight." Ten 
assistant judges were to sit with Trott, and there was a 
grand jury. A manuscript book preserved in the Charles- 
ton Library contains the charge of the chief justice, 
which is said to be " a most able exposition of the law of 
the case." To the uninitiated it is an extraordinary pro- 
duction, bristling with Latin and Greek, and expounding 
to the jury the origin and authority of the court, of which 
it probably had no doubt whatsoever. 

The jury was more likely to be decided by the list of 
thirty -eight vessels taken by Bonnet and Thatch in the last 
six months, which was displayed by the attorney-general, 
Richard Allein. The question was, were all of these men 
aiding in and consenting to the piracies ? 

It is extraordinary and shocking to us now that, wicked 
as they might be, they were not allowed the assistance of 
counsel. 

Imagine the poor wretches, badgered by two clever 
lawyers, frowned upon by eleven clever judges, confronted 



THE CONQUEST OF THE PIRATES 75 

by a jury, every man of whom must have wished them 
hung, and trying to patch up some miserable defence for 
themselves ! 

Such was the law in criminal trials then and for many 
years later. Sydney Smith claims with pride that the 
" honest boldness of the Edinburgh Review " had much to 
do in the alteration of this abuse. Counsel was not granted 
until 1836. On this occasion the testimony was that of 
one caitiff who turned State's evidence. Four of the 
prisoners were acquitted ; the rest condemned to be hung. 

Stede Bonnet was not tried at this time. The too care- 
less guard of the marshal had enabled him to make friends 
in the town, and he had escaped in woman's dress with 
one of his companions, in a boat with an Indian and a 
negro. 

This evasion was made in the hope of reaching the 
vessels of another pirate named (it was supposed) Moody, 
who had appeared off the bar a day or two before, with 
a large ship of fifty guns and two hundred men ; and two 
others, also armed, captured by him on their way from 
New England to Charles Town. 

These insolent rovers sailed close in shore or lay in the 
offing waiting for outgoing ships, so that their sails could 
be seen from the wharves. No help had come from Eng- 
land, and once more Robert Johnson called Council and 
Assembly and told them that they must rely upon them- 
selves alone. They immediately passed an act to impress 
and arm the best vessels in port, and called for volun- 
teers. Naturally they expected Colonel Rhett to take 
command, but he, in consequence it is said of some affront 
at Johnson, refused. It must have gone hard with him 
to do so, for he dearly loved a fight. Thereupon the 
Governor announced that he himself would be Admiral 
(glad perhaps of an opportunity to show himself a com- 
mander), and the people were delighted. Four vessels 



76 CHARLESTON 

were mounted with guns, the Royal James being one, 
and three hundred men volunteered. They were nearly 
ready to sail when Bonnet and his sailing master were 
found to have escaped. Word was brought to the town 
that they had gone down to the bar, but rinding that 
Moody was cruising elsewhere that day, they had put 
back and were on Sullivan's Island. Colonel Rhett 
offered to head a party for the recovery of his captive. 
The search was long and difficult, for the sandhills were 
covered with a dense growth of stunted live-oak and 
myrtle, and lay close and confusedly together. Nothing 
was easier than to lose one's way. At last the fugitives 
were seen. Rhett's men fired and the sailor fell dead. 
Bonnet was captured and carried back to prison. Sixty 
years ago a little nook in the hills near the back beach 
used to be called " the Pirate's cave " (it was not a 
cave but a hollow in the hills). This adventure of Bon- 
net's may have given the name. The myrtle has been 
cut away now and the hills, which were only held, to- 
gether by their roots, have vanished with them. 

Whether the pirates intended to make an attack upon 
the town is not known, but they shortly reappeared, came 
inside the bar, and rode quietly at anchor. Johnson sailed 
down at night to the fort named for his father, and 
waited. Early next morning, the masters of the other 
vessels having their instructions, he and his consorts 
crossed the bar quietly, having their guns under cover 
and no sign of war about them. The pirate, supposing 
them to be merchantmen, let them pass out, and then 
closing in behind them to intercept their expected retreat, 
ran up the black flag and called for surrender. The 
Governor, having by this stratagem got them between 
himself and the town, hoisted the royal ensign, threw 
open his ports, and poured a broadside into the nearest 
ship. The astonished rover endeavoured to make the 



THE CONQUEST OF THE PIRATES 77 

open sea, and by skilful handling succeeded in doing so. 
Johnson followed in hot pursuit, signalling the Sea Nymph 
and the Royal James to look after the sloop. Then 
ensued a desperate fight, the vessels yard-arm to yard-arm. 

The pirates at last were driven* from their guns. The 
Carolinians boarded ; all the men on deck were killed 
fighting gallantly; those who had taken refuge in the 
hold surrendered ; the sloop and the survivors of the crew 
were carried up to the town, where the people had been 
listening to the guns. 

Meanwhile the Governor was pursuing the pirate ship. 
A stern chase is proverbially a long chase, and the rover 
threw over boats and cannon in the effort to lighten his 
vessel, but the Charles Town ship was the faster sailer 
and overhauled her at last. A surprise awaited the 
captors. When the hatches were lifted, the hold was 
found to be full of women ! " 

The vessel was the Eagle, carrying convicts and " inden- 
tured servants " from England to Virginia. Thirty-six 
were women. 

The Pirate had captured her some time before, changed 
her name, and taken her for his own. Again the identity 
of the commander had been mistaken ; not Moody but 
one still more dreaded, Richard Worley, was the captain. 
He had been killed on the sloop in the desperate fight off 
the bar. 

The victory was great, but where was Moody ! There 
was daily apprehension of his appearance. At last after 
weeks of anxiety it was discovered, that having learned 
the preparations made to receive him in Charles Town, 
he had gone to Jamaica, there to avail himself of "the 
King's pardon " which Admiral Sir Woodes Rogers was 
authorized to grant to all who should submit themselves 
voluntarily before the first of the following January. 

It remained to punish the prisoners. They were tried 



T8 CHARLESTON 

by the court already described ; but interest was aroused 
for Bonnet, whose gentlemanly appearance and manners, 
apparent contrition, and protestations of devotion and 
loyalty, touched many hearts. His appeal, in which the 
most sacred texts of Scripture were dexterously woven into 
a petition for life, provoked, however, the ire of Trott, who 
told him in language as pedantically pious as his own : — 

" You being a Gentleman and a Man of letters I believe 
it will be needless for me to explain to you the nature of 
Repentance and faith in Christ ;" " considering the course 
of your life and actions, I have just reason to fear that 
the principles of Religion that had been instilled into you 
by your Education, have been at least corrupted if not 
entirely defaced by the scepticism and infidelity of this 
wicked Age." " For had your delight been in the Law of 
the Lord and had you meditated thereon Day and night, 
you would have found that God's word was a Lamp to 
your feet and a light to your path," etc. 

Pity was shown in an unexpected quarter. The sword 
is often gentler than the gown, and the good fight he had 
fought may have appealed to the soldier. Colonel Rhett 
offered to take Bonnet to London himself to plead for 
pardon. Johnson knew his duty too well. Bonnet's 
offences were too flagrant, his hypocrisy too apparent. 
He had already taken the oath of repentance and had 
returned at once to his evil ways. His appeal was as the 
Devil quoting Scripture. He was hanged, as were the other 
prisoners, forty in all. They were buried on White Point 
shoal, just above low- water mark. The place has been 
filled up and is now the Battery Garden, the favourite 
pleasure ground of Charleston. 

About the same time Thatch (or Blackbeard) was taken 
by an expedition sent out by Governor Spotswood of Vir- 
ginia, but commanded by officers of the Royal Navy. The 
Carolinians had fought their fight alone and unaided, 



THE CONQUEST OF THE PIRATES 



79 



the Lords Proprietors having refused to hearken to their 
calling. 

Just at this juncture when the people were angry at 
their neglect, and at the heavy debt which the expense of 
the defence left upon them, the Governor alone being " one 
thousand pounds out of pocket," their Lordships saw fit to 




A Corner of the Battery Garden 

enact certain laws and regulations which bore heavily on 
their trade, and endangered their lands. The colonists saw 
clearly that their only safety lay in escaping this short- 
sighted and selfish rule; but how was that to be done? 
The Proprietors legally owned the whole country as one 
great estate. Mr. Maurice Ashley, grandson of the great 



80 CHARLESTON 

Lord Shaftesbury, spoke the simple truth when he said " No 
man has a just title to anything if the Proprietors have not 
a title to Carolina." The soil thus bound, how could the 
inhabitants be free? 'Twere long to tell and dull to trace 
the negotiations, the plots and counterplots, the petitions, 
addresses, memorials, etc., which followed those ill-advised 
measures. The colony sent agent after agent to urge their 
claims: Mr. Boone, Mr. Francis Yonge, Colonel John 
Barnwell. The Proprietors- were "deaf as Ailsa Craig," 
but the " Board of Trade and Plantations " had, ever since 
seventeen hundred, been prepared by the representations 
of the Collector Edmund Randolph, for such a condition 
of things. It strongly advised the Crown to take the 
Province into its own keeping. A petition signed by over 
five hundred of the best people of the country (more than 
half the male inhabitants) could not be called the doings 
" of a faction or a party," as their Lordships said. The 
situation was complicated by the double dealing of Judge 
Trott who kept up a correspondence secretly inciting the 
Proprietors to resist. 

It was proposed to compel them to resign their charter 
and sell their Province to the King, and this was eventu- 
ally done, but the territorial right existed for some time 
after the sovereignty had passed. 

While these legal proceedings were dragging their 
slow length in England, the colonists were taking things 
into their own hands at home. In December, 1719, the 
Assembly informed Mr. Johnson that it would not meet 
the Council just appointed by the Lords or acknowledge 
its authority. 

Governor Johnson remonstrated, and the Assembly stood 
firm. The people were in a curious predicament. They 
hated the Government but loved the Governor ; and 
Johnson, though no man could feel their wrongs more 
keenly, was too straightforward and honest to allow the 



THE CONQUEST OF THE PIRATES 81 

distinction. There were several communications all to 
this purpose and then the Assembly resolved itself into a 
convention of the people and presented the love letter 
from which this extract is taken. 

" May it please your Honour 

" It is with no small concern that we find ourselves 
obliged to address your Honour in a matter which noth- 
ing but the absolute Necessity of Self-Preservation could 
at this juncture have prevailed on us to do. The reasons 
are already made known to your Honour and the World, 
therefore we forebear to rehearse them, but proceed to 
take Leave to assure you. That it is the greatest satis- 
faction to us, to find throughout the whole Country that 
universal Affection, Deference and Respect the inhabitants 
bear to your Honour's person, and with what passionate De- 
sire they wish for a continuance of your gentle and good Ad- 
ministration; and since we who are intrusted with, and are 
the Asserters of their Rights and Liberties, are unanimously 
of opinion That no Person is fitter to Govern so Loyal and 
Obedient a People to his Sacred Majesty King George, 
we most earnestly desire and entreat your Honour to take 
upon you the Government of this Province in his Majesty's 
name until his pleasure shall be known." 

They remind him of how bound they are to him by his 
" tender regard for it " (the country) " on all Occasions, 
and particularly in Hazarding your own person in an Ex- 
pedition against the Pirates, for its Defence, an Example 
seldom found in Governors," and conclude by assuring 
him if he will but accept their offer, 

"That we will in the most Dutiful Manner Address 
His Most Sacred Majesty King George, for the continu- 
ance of your Government over us, under whom we doubt 
not to be a Happy People." 

No man could receive such an address unmoved, but 
Johnson stood out. He reminded them that he held 



82 CHARLESTON 

his commission from the Proprietors, and that they had 
no legal right to depose them, and vainly tried by speak- 
ing of an expected Spanish invasion to turn them from 
their purpose. This he did, says Francis Yonge, because 
he thought their demands " inconsistent with his Honour 
and the Trust reposed in him by the Lords Proprietors." 
Colonel Rhett and Mr. Trott did not support the Gov- 
ernor, but " Left their Masters in the Lurch," and his re- 
sistance was vain. 

He had still some hope of delaying proceedings, but on 
coming into town on the 21st of December he found the 
militia drawn up in arms and preparing by beat of drum 
to proclaim James Moore Governor "for the King." He 
argued, protested, and ordered, but not even the recently 
appointed Council stood by him. One member, Mr. Lloyd, 
accompanied him throughout the day — lest, it was after- 
ward explained, he should lose his temper and be betrayed 
into some rash act. But although all those men loved 
him, all felt that the issues at stake were too great for 
private feeling to be indulged. There was one possible 
resource. Two men-of-war (sent at last in answer to his 
appeals) were in the harbour and their captains acknow- 
ledged his authority. He ordered the guns run out and 
proclaimed that he would lay the town in ashes if the 
people did not submit. The people "being in a Town 
regularly Fortifyed and 70 Cannon mounted on their Ram- 
parts and near 500 men within " " were not to be so terry - 
fied," and he was obliged to desist. 

" Thus the Government became the King's, to the great 
joy of the People of that Province." 

This whole Revolution (for such it was) is as a fore- 
cast of that great one of '76. But more than fifty }~ears 
were to pass before the boys who now shouted for King 
George were, as old men, to recognize that they had but 
exchanged the misrule of the Lords Proprietors for that 
of "his Majesty's Ministers." 



CHAPTER VII 

the king against the lords. the building of st. 

philip's 

IT must be confessed that in these times Carolinians were 
much of the faith of the Vicar of Bray. Absorbed 
in their own affairs, changes of King or of dynasty were 
little to them. They had wept for Charles and shouted 
for James the Second, had hailed William and Mary as 
bulwarks of the Protestant faith (they were all Protes- 
tants), Queen Anne had been their Lady and Mother, and 
now George was the desire of an adoring people, with 
never a longing, lingering look behind for the unhappy 
Stuarts. If any little leaven of Jacobitism ever had crept 
in, it had been severely repressed. Mr. Nairne had been 
imprisoned, as already said, on the charge, but had suc- 
cessfully vindicated himself, only to die at the hands of 
the Indians. The turbulent Mr. Marston, the quarrelling 
rector of St. Philip's, had cast it off so completely as to 
become the champion of the dissenters; and if Colonel 
Rhett was suspected, no one durst whisper it above his 
breath. There is a hint to this effect in a letter (given 
in the Shaftesbury papers) to " A Merchant of Bristol," 
the writer's name being suppressed; which mentions that 
a Mr. K., bred up, as he is informed, at St. Germains, as he 
supposes with Colonel Rhett, used to pay great respect to 
the picture of Sacheverell in the Colonel's hall, but as he 
"is afraid of Stewartizing this letter will conclude." Pos- 
sibly this timidly hinted attachment — if such there were 

83 



84 CHARLESTON 

— to the ancient line, may explain the persistent opposi- 
tion of Trott and Rhett to the change of rule. They 
probably did not wish their colony to give itself so abso- 
lutely to the House of Hanover, for years after when they 
were both holding office under the Crown, they maintained 
a correspondence with the last Palatine, Lord Carteret, 
which would have been esteemed little less than treason- 
able had.it been discovered. 

The colony was now (1720) sixty years old and could no 
longer be called " an infant," however much its growth 
may have been stunted by the events already related. 
Charles Town was a thriving little place, sole port, sole 
law-giver, and seat of government for the whole Province. 
Her worst troubles were now — for fifty years — over ; 
safe behind the royal shield she was free to enter the race 
for wealth and prosperity with small fear from outward 
foes. 

John Lawson, surveyor general of North Carolina, 
writing in 1709, had said : " The town has very regular and 
fair Streets, in which are good buildings of Brick or Wood, 
and since my coming thence " (eight years before) " has 
had great additions of beautiful large Brick buildings, 
besides a strong Fort, and regular Fortifications to defend 
the Town. The inhabitants by their wise management 
and Industry have much improved the country which is 
in as thriving condition at this time as any Colony on the 
Continent of English America." " The Colony was at 
first planted by a genteel sort of people that were well 
acquainted with Trade, and had either Money or Parts to 
make a good use of the Advantages that offered." " They 
have a considerable Trade with both Europe and the West 
Indies, whereby they become rich and are supply'd with 
all Things necessary for Trade and genteel Living, which 
several other places fall short of. Their co-habiting in a 
town has drawn to them ingenious People of most Sciences, 



THE KING AGAINST THE LOBDS 85 

whereby they have Tutors amongst them that educate 
their Youth a-la-mode." 

" Their roads with great Industry are made very good 
and pleasant. Near the Town is built a fair Parsonage 
with necessary offices." "They have a well disciplined 
Militia, their Horse are most Gentlemen" (viz. " the 
Gentlemen of Captain Logan's troop ") " and well 
mounted, the best in America, and may equalize any in 
other parts. Their Officers, both Infantry and Cavalry, 
generally appear in scarlet Mountings, and as rich as 
in most Regiments belonging to the Crown, which shows 
the Richness and Grandeur of this colony." "This place 
is more plentiful in Money than most or indeed any of 
the plantations on the Continent." " The merchants are 
fair, frank traders. The Gentlemen seated in the coun- 
try, are very courteous, live very nobly in their houses, and 
give very genteel entertainment to Strangers and others 
that come to visit them." 

Lawson wrote just after the defeat of the French, of 
whom he says "their Admiral Moville was glad to run 
away and leave the Enterprise after he had suffered all 
the loss and disgrace he was capable of." Within five 
years occurred the frightful disaster of the Yemassee War, 
and after that the fights with the pirates and the political 
disturbances. 

It is not likely that in such a perturbed time there 
would be much growth or improvement, but by 1720 the 
north and west walls had been partially dismantled (Old- 
mixon sarcastically says they were for beauty, not for 
use) and houses were built beyond the original precincts. 
Among the private houses he mentions "some very hand- 
some buildings, as Mr. Landgrave Smith's house on the 
Key with a drawbridge and wharf before it, Colonel 
Rhett's is on the Key; also Mr. Boone's, Mr. Logan's, 
Mr. Schinking's and ten or twelve more which deserve 
to be taken notice of." 



86 CHARLESTON 

In all these early descriptions of the country there is 
no mention of flowers. Trees and fruits are repeatedly 
enumerated, but whether or no these " fair houses " had 
gardens among them at this early time w r e knoiv not. 
The only mention of anything ornamental is Governor 
Archdale's of what is now called the State Road, but 
which was long known as " The Path, " the old Indian 
trail, the continuation of the present King Street. 

" the land is mixed with blackish mould, it is beautified 
with odoriferous and fragrant woods, pleasantly green all 
the year as the Pine, Cedar and Cypress, insomuch that out 
of Charles Town for three or four miles called the Broad- 
way, is so delightful a Road and walk of a great breadth, so 
pleasantly green that I believe no Prince in Europe with 
all their Art, can make so pleasant a sight for the whole 
year." But not a word of the yellow jessamine, the 
magnolia, the sweet bay, or the gay catalpa trees which 
must have filled the woods with odour and colour then, 
as they do to-day. 

In this growing place living was inexpensive. Then, 
as for generations to come, the plantation furnished the 
town house with most of the necessaries of life. Trans- 
portation was easy, for the settlements clung to the rivers 
which were the common highways. The expression for 
making a settlement was " seating a river, " as, " I under- 
stand two new rivers are about seating " ; " they have the 
advantage of seating a new river " (Archclale). Every 
planter had his canoe, such as Lawson describes seeing 
among the Huguenots on the Santee, made of " vast cypress 
trees that will carry fifty or sixty Barrels" i.e. of rice. 
" After the tree is moulded and dug they saw it in two 
pieces and so put a plank between and a small Keel to 
preserve them from the Oyster Banks." Such canoes 
were still in use fifty years ago, especially among the 
planters of the islands to the southward, who used to 



THE KING AGAINST THE LORDS 87 

bring their " long staple cotton " piled high in bow 
and stern. Ten or twelve negroes in the waist plied 
their long oars, keeping perfect time to the songs or 
"spirituals," which they chanted incessantly during the 
row of thirty or forty miles. Sometimes instead of 
cotton the planter's family came down in these craft, 
comfortably enough, sleeping at some friend's house on 
the way, and sheltered by a tarpaulin in case of rain. 
From the plantations came rice, corn, ground for hominy 
or bread, potatoes, peas, ham, bacon, salt meat, and poultry. 
In cold Aveather a beef could safely come, or a deer, or 
wild turkeys, which Archdale says an Indian will sell the 
first for sixpence, the second of forty pounds for twopence 
of English money ! The close trade with the West Indies 
supplied them with turtle, sugar, coffee, and pepper at 
low rates, and as they sent much rice to Portugal, it 
was easy to bring back Port or even Madeira wine. It is 
no wonder that they "lived well and handsomely enter- 
tained their friends." 

It is hard at this distance of time to say positively who 
were the men who had thus already conquered the wilder- 
ness and laid the foundations of a state which their chil- 
dren should rule. In a community there are always 
persons who take no prominent part in public affairs, 
yet by character and position exercise much influence over 
their course. Such is the " silent body of country gentle- 
men who sit but don't speak in the Hoiise of Commons." 
Such was the same class in the little colony of Carolina. 
But the names most frequently mentioned at that time are 
first, undoubtedly, Trott and Rhett who overtop all others; 
Robert Johnson, the displaced Governor, and James Moore, 
who succeeded him provisionally. He had led the second 
expedition against the Tuscaroras, and was, says Ramsay, 
" a man excellently qualified for being a public leader in 
a perilous adventure." Arthur Middleton, as President 



88 



CUABLESTON 



of the Assembly, had led the attack on the Proprietors. 
He was the second of the name in Carolina settled at 
Crowfield on Goose Creek. 

Besides these there were William Bnll, son of Stephen, 
who built the second house of Ashley Hall, and was begin- 
ning a career which was to be of great distinction. Ralph 
Izard, Colonel Broughton of " Mulberry," Governor 
Gibbes, Mr. Berresf ord, all Goose Creek men — the last 
remembered by his bequest of over six thousand pounds 




■>&<■ 






^Vwv* VHjM. &v£a, 



Drayton Hall 



as a school fund, called the " Berresf ord Bounty." The 
Draytons and Bakers were on Ashley River at " Drayton 
Hall," " Magnolia," and "Archdale." Fenwicke, Waring, 
Logan, Harleston, Skrine, Parris, Kinloch, and Othniel 
Beale are names constantly occurring in councils and com- 
missions. Some Huguenots begin to appear in the same 
way: De la Conseilliere, Le Noble, St. Julien, and Ser- 
rurier. Colonel John Barnwell was, next to Rhett, the 



THE KING AGAINST THE LORDS 89 

best soldier of the colony, and with Boone, Yonge, and 
Lloyd, represented it in England. The second Landgrave, 
Thomas Smith, had succeeded his father, but the son of 
the Proprietor, Joseph Blake, was still a minor, his 
estate admirably administered by his mother, " Madam" or 
" Lady " Blake ; the first of those managing matrons of 
Carolina who did so much for the country, of whom we 
have any knowledge. Their chief seat was " Newing- 
ton " near the present village of Summerville, a stately 
brick mansion. 

One alone among the families of the original Lords 
Proprietors ever identified itself with Carolina by resi- 
dence or name. That of Sir John Colleton, named by 
Charles II. as one of the grantees of the Province. 
Sir John himself never came out nor did either of his 
elder sons ; and the career of the third, Landgrave and 
Governor James, from whose " nobility " so much had been 
hoped, was (as already related) most unfortunate. Never- 
theless, the family " added house to house and vineyard 
to vineyard " (and rice field to rice field) until there was 
hardly a " seated river " from the Cooper to the Broad, on 
which they had not an estate or a barony. One, just op- 
posite to the town, between the Ashley and Wappoo Creek, 
called " Waheewah Barony," is supposed to have been the 
place where Landgrave James built the fine house which 
he was forced to leave when banished by his enraged sub- 
jects. He had another barony, " Wadboo " on the Cooper, 
with a handsome stone house on it, and a lot of nine acres 
on the square of his own name in Charles Town, all of 
which he left to his son. 

Those of the family who did not come out (there were 
several) managed their estates, built houses, etc., by 
agents, and it was not until 1726 that the Honourable 
John Colleton, great grandson of the first Sir John, came 
to reside permanently in the Province at the " Fairlawn 



90 CHARLESTON 

Barony," at the head of navigation of Cooper River, near 
the present village of Monck's Corner. 

Here he built himself a magnificent house, said to have 
been the largest in the colony. It was burned by the Brit- 
ish in the Revolution, lest it should harbour Marion's 
men who had already annoyed them by lying in ambusli 
among the thick cedars of the avenue. Fifty years ago 
the plan of the house could still be traced, although it had 
long served the neighbourhood as a brick quarry. 

There was the foundation of a large square central 
building, with extensive wings which had apparently 
formed three sides of a courtyard. From one wing the 
foundation of a wall ran to another heap of ruins, evidently 
offices ; it was supposed that the wall had been part of a 
connecting gallery. The site of two artificial fish ponds, 
which were the fashion of the day, could be distinguished ; 
but the whole place was grown up in oak and cedar, with 
here and there a ragged box tree or garden plant to tell 
of what had been. 

Here the Honourable John and his wife, Susannah Snell, 
spent their lives, dying within a few months of each 
other and being buried at the parish church of St. John's 
Berkeley (commonly called Biggin Church), the site and 
glebe for which had been given by the family a few years 
before. 

To this gentleman succeeded his son, who inherited 
the title from his grandfather and became the third 
Sir John. Both of these styled themselves "of Fair- 
lawn Barony, in the parish of St. John's Berkeley, in 
the province of South Carolina." But Fairlawn was 
only one of their many estates and they were among 
the wealthiest men of the colony; yet, although natu- 
rally of much social importance, they do not appear to 
have taken any prominent part in public affairs, further 
than that both were members of his Majesty's Council. 



THE KING AGAINST THE LOBDS 91 

Probably all but two or three of these men were rice 
planters. Rice had by this time become the chief product 
of the Province. From little patches planted experiment- 
ally by Landgrave Smith, Dr. Woodward, and others 
(the former in his garden upon the creek which is now 
Water Street), about twenty-five years before, it grew by 
1720 upon every " seated " river, and formed the chief 
wealth of the Province. Over seventeen thousand barrels 
were exported in 1724. Indigo came later, and cotton 
later still, but rice reigned in " the Parishes," and its 
planters were the dominant class of Charleston, socially 
and politically, down to 1865. 

It should not be forgotten, however, that the planters 
were likewise citizens, and that they formed a class and 
not a caste. Their ranks were continually recruited from 
those of the merchants, for like their brethren at home 
" the Seigneurs of the seas," from whom spring many 
English nobles, the man who began in trade soon put his 
money into land and became a country gentleman also. 

" Commerce," says Ramsay, " is of noble origin in South 
Carolina. Its first merchants were the Lords Proprietors 
of the Province," and during the whole colonial period the 
merchants formed a wealthy and important element of 
society. The merchant then owned and sometimes sailed 
his own ships, sent them according to his own discretion 
from port to port, he or his son often going as supercargo, 
saw adventure and life by sea and land, and in order to be 
successful had to be a man of intelligence, education, and 
force. Such a one was Othniel Beale, who, having been 
taken at sea by Barbary pirates, managed to delude the 
Algerine crew put aboard of him into believing that he 
was steering for the Barbary coast, when in fact he was 
making all sail for the Thames ! He actually succeeded 
in getting vessel and crew into port before the rovers 
guessed his design, and was received and rewarded by the 



92 CHARLESTON 

King. He then returned to Carolina, where he spent the 
rest of his life, made a fortune, became a member of 
the Commons and afterward President of the Council. 
His daughter married the second Lieutenant-governor 
Bull, but left no children. 

Governor Archdale said in 1707, " I am satisfied that a 
Person with 500 pounds discreetly laid out in old Eng- 
land, and again prudently managed in Carolina, shall in a 
few years live in as much Plenty, yea more, than a man of 
500 pounds a year in England." 

By this Mr. Archdale evidently meant that English 
goods, " discreetly " chosen, would indefinitely multiply 
their value in Charles Town. The " Mazyck Record " 
gives the account of just such a successful business as he 
contemplates. It is a type of the commercial career of 
the time, and so is given here. 

Isaac Mazyck, the youngest son of a wealthy family of 
Protestant merchants of La Rochelle, foreseeing the wrath 
to come, left France before the revocation of the Edict of 
Nantes, and by so doing was able to take with him " what 
money he could hastily gather together, about 1500 pounds 
sterling." He was an educated and rather accomplished 
man, with some taste and skill in drawing. Some of his 
sketches and topographical drawings of fortified places in 
France were long preserved by his descendants. After- 
some stay in Holland, where he laid out his money in 
goods, he determined to go to Carolina, knowing that he 
should find there many of his countrymen of his own faith, 
enjoy liberty of conscience, and be a Me to " enter into a 
very extensive trade as a merchant." He arrived, he says, 
"in December 1686" and "brought with him a cargo of 
about 1000 pounds sterling worth of goods merchandise, 
and immediately settled in Charles Town." He prospered 
so well that he " carried on an extensive scheme of Trade 
with England, Portugal, Madeira, the West Indies and 



THE KING AGAINST THE LORDS 93 

North America," and the better to manage this business, 
made many voyages to England, the Islands, etc. 

He bought for a small price a large body of land (about 
thirty-five acres) at the west end of Broad Street, then with- 
out the walls, which long continued in the possession of 
his descendants, and other large bodies in the upper part 
of the town " so that he at one time possessed more land 
in and about Charles Town than any other person in Car- 
olina or in any town in North America." Unfortunately 
he sold a great part of this land " which would have been 
a great estate to his heirs." (He kept enough, however, 
to make them very wealthy.) He bought also a planta- 
tion and sixty negroes on Goose Creek, and his name 
appears in the list of "Goosecreek men" reckoned as 
Governor Colleton's chief opponents. His sons were 
most carefully educated abroad. The eldest, of his own 
name, was for over fifty years a member of the Commons 
House, always continuing his father's business, and becom- 
ing a large landholder and an assistant judge. The 
manuscript " Record " — written by his grandson — of the 
elder Mazyck, says, "He was in his time the most eminent 
merchant in Carolina, and made one of the largest estates, 
with a fair, upright and honourable character ; a sincere 
Christian, just in his dealings, humane and charitable to 
all, and a loyal subject of the House of Hanover." 

In his Bible is the following, probably written soon 
after his arrival in America, "God gave me the great 
blessing of coming out of France, and escaping the cruel 
persecutions carried on against the Protestants, and to 
express my thankfulness for so great a blessing I promise, 
please God, to observe the anniversary of that by a 
fast." 

The story may be said to justify Governor Archdale's 
opinion as to the advantages of Carolina for a " prudent " 
man with a small capital. 



94 CHARLESTON 

The Mr. Wragg who had so narrowly escaped the 
clutches of Blackbeard was another instance of these 
planter merchants. 

He and his brother, for their services in bringing out 
large numbers of emigrants, were granted twenty-four 
thousand acres of land ; this estate was long known as 
the "Wragg Barony." Miss Pinckney, writing in 1766, 
says : " Miss Wragg shook hands for life with Jack 
Mathewes last week. They had a mighty jolly wedding 
of it up at ye Barony." Yet the Wraggs did not give up 
business, and at the outbreak of the Revolution William 
Wragg was one of the wealthiest and most respected 
persons of the town. By the time of the Revolution the 
merchants took much share in public affairs, as Henry 
Laurens, Robert Pringle, Gabriel and Peter Manigault, 
Colonel Shubrick, and others. 

All these, planters and merchants, were now looking 
anxiously for what his Majesty might be pleased to do, 
and who the next Governor should be. If things had gone 
adversely for them at home, and the King had held them 
for rebels, then the fate of the traitor might have been 
theirs, and their heads not been safe on their shoulders. 
However, as has been said, their cause had prospered, and 
in 1721 arrived General Sir Francis Nicholson as Pro- 
visional Governor. 

Sir Francis was a picturesque person, who had already 
held similar positions, sometimes with credit, but always 
with eccentricity. In Virginia, for instance, he had fallen 
so violently in love that when the lady married another, 
he threatened to shoot, with his own hands, groom, parson, 
and magistrate who gave the license! 

In Carolina he was to expend his energies on forts and 
churches. As a good soldier he saw the need for the 
former, as a devoted churchman he cared for the latter. 

He sent Colonel John Barnwell to build a fort on the 



THE KING AGAINST THE LORDS 95 

Altamaha to keep the Spaniards in check, and made him 
commander of the southern part of the Province. 

For the churches he not only obtained additional assist- 
ance from the ever generous S. P. G., but gave liberally 
from his own pocket. A hundred pounds, for instance, 
for the new parish just formed to the north, which was, of 
course, to bear the beloved name "Prince George " Winyah. 

There were many difficulties of administration : old 
debts and paper currency to be adjusted, accounts to be 
examined, officers to be removed and new ones appointed. 
It is not to be expected that such changes could be peace- 
ably effected. " The new Governor," says Hewat, "though 
bred a soldier, and profane, passionate and headstrong 
himself, was not insensible of the advantages of religion 
to society, and contributed not a little to its interests 
in Carolina, both by his public influence and private 
generosity." 

The same was absolutely true of Colonel William Rhett. 
Of course they quarrelled violently. Rhett, in addition to 
many other offices, had been made inspector of fortifica- 
tions. It was alleged that he had neglected his work and 
abused his position. A new man, Benjamin de la Con- 
seilliere, was appointed receiver-general in his stead, and 
Rhett, proudly conscious of his great services to the State, 
resented all examination of accounts. 

One can easily imagine his haughty sense of injury! 
The Governor called him (to the Lords trustees) "a haughty, 
proud, insolent fellow and a cheating scoundrel." Probably, 
if we had Colonel Rhett's opinion of his Excellency, it 
would be much the same. The quarrel did not last long, 
for Rhett died suddenly of an apoplectic fit in 1722, and 
Sir Francis himself, in announcing his death, asked that 
some one might be sent to succeed him, " as there are not 
many persons here qualified." Certainly a tribute to the 
capacity of his enemy! 



96 



CHARLESTON 



Colonel Rhett was buried in the yard of the new, still 
unfinished church, which had been many years in building. 
The original wooden St. Philip's had become so decayed 
that it was thought unsafe, and the new one was placed 
on the site now occupied by the third of the name, at the 
head of Church Street. It was just within the city limits, 




SiftR— 



VZ&J 



The Second St. Philip's Church 
From an old print. 

the old town wall bounding its yards (east and west) to 
the north, and also bounding that of the " Old White 
Meeting," which adjoined its western enclosure ; having 
Fort Carteret and the powder magazine at the northwest 
corner. To the church Colonel Rhett had given a silver 
communion service, chalice, paten, and alms-dish, from 
which the congregation still receives the sacrament, — all 



THE KING AGAINST THE LORDS 97 

marked with the inscription, " The gift of Colonel William 
Rhett to the Church of St. Philip's, Charles Town, South 
Carolina." 

The Proprietors had liberally given five hundred pounds 
toward the erection of this church, but now in the spirit 
of ardent loyalty which possessed the people, they in- 
structed their agents in London " to pray his Majesty to 
send his picture and arms for a publick building in Charles 
Town, and also a set of church plate for the church here, 
which they are to pray may be called i St. George's 
Church.' " 

There is something irresistibly comic in the idea of 
his fat Hanoverian Majesty becoming in this roundabout 
way, a patron saint. Possibly the absurdity occurred 
to the King's representatives, for the loyal wish was only 
gratified in part ; the plate engraved with the Royal arms 
was sent, but the name " St. Philip's " was transferred 
with the congregation to the new edifice. This plate 
had, many years afterward, a singular escape. Having 
passed unscathed through the perils of the Revolution, 
and the fire of 1835, in which the church itself .was de- 
stroyed, it nearly fell a prey to a burglar ! This man, a 
" professional " from New York, had committed an im- 
mense number of robberies in Charleston, when one morn- 
ing the family of the church warden, to whose house the 
service had been taken for safe keeping, found that not 
so much as a teaspoon remained to them of their own 
silver, but that all the church plate, removed from its box 
and carried downstairs, was left placed upon a table. 
Religious or superstitious feeling can move even a burg- 
lar, and the sacred vessels were spared ! 

The church, which was not opened for worship until 
1723, was esteemed, says Burke, the handsomest in 
America. It had " three aisles, an organ, and a gallery 
all round. The steeple rises octagonal, with windows 



98 



CHARLESTON 



in each face of the second course ornamented with ionic 
pilasters, whose entablature supports a balustrade, from 




St. Michael's Church from Broad Street 

this the tower still rises octagonal, with sashed windows 
on every other face, till it is terminated by a dome, upon 



THE KING AGAINST THE LORDS 99 

which stands a lanthorn for the bells, from which rises a 
vane in the form of a cock." 

The church was opened for service in 1723, but the 
interior was not finished until 1727, the congregation in the 
meanwhile taking their own chairs with them, there 
being no seats. In the latter year the pews were put in, 
and were " granted " to those applying for them. The 
" grant " following a " benevolence " varying apparently 
from sixty to one hundred pounds apiece.-}-* We have 
certainly lost much grace and dignity of phrase since 
1727. How much better does this sound than "such a 

pew in church was sold at auction for twelve 

hundred dollars ! " The early adoption of the Church of 
England by many of the Huguenots even of the town, is 
shown by the fact that Colonel Samuel Prioleau, son of 
the first Huguenot pastor, Elias Prioleau, Gabriel Mani- 
gault, and John Abram Motte, were members of the first 
vestr}^ of the new church. Probably the very distinct 
declaration sworn to by each vestryman made this trans- 
ference easy to them. 

" We the vestry and church wardens of the Parish of 
St. Philip's, Charlestown, who have hereto subscribed our 
names, do declare that we believe that there is no tran- 
substantiation whatever in the Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper, or in the elements of bread and wine, after con- 
secration thereof by any person whatever." J , • o 

The original church, having become dangerous to by- 
standers, was pulled down, and the site was presented to 
the town to build a hall upon, with the curious proviso 
that the churchyard might still be used for interments. 
Fancy a city hall in a graveyard! This odd plan was 
never carried out, and in thirty years more the present 
St. Michael's was erected on the spot first occupied by 
the old St. Philip's. * 

Governor Nicholson had but a stormy administration. 



100 CHARLESTON 

His temper was violent and his language — emphatic. 
When the merchants opposed his plans with regard to 
the currency, he authorized the Commons to imprison all 
the petitioners, and declared that "they will lye most 
notoriously in their own interest," and likewise quarrelled 
with the Council who sustained the merchants. 

But he did his best to encourage education and religion, 
and also to pacify the Indians and fortify the Province. 
His health was not good, and in three years' time he 
returned to England, laying the burthen of government 
on the shoulders of Mr. Arthur Middleton, who admin- 
istered it as " President of the Council " until the death 
of Sir Francis in 1729. 

The fiery Governor proved the sincerity of his interest 
in his friends and in good works by his will, drawn after 
his return to England. He first gives most minute in- 
structions about his funeral " immediately after sunrise," 
his grave to be covered with a white marble tombstone 
with pillars at the four corners, " thereon expressed my 
Travells and the Offices I have borne in Europe, Asia, 
Africa and America." This provided for, he leaves small 
legacies and mourning rings to innumerable friends in 
England and the Provinces (many in Carolina), " to my 
godson Abel Kettelby my silver fringed gloves and my 
silver handled sword," and finally gives all his property 
to the S. P. G. for the " Encouragement of persons com- 
ing from New England, receiving Episcopal Ordination 
and going as Missionaries." It should be said too that 
he bore no malice, for rings are left " To Mr. Samuel 
Wragg and wife and children, and to the Gentlemen who 
now compose his Majesty's Council in South Carolina " ; 
thus forgiving, as a brave soldier does, in death those 
with whom in life he has honourably fought. 

Mr. Arthur Middleton, a man of firm character and of 
much influence in the colony, was yet so embarrassed by 



THE KING AGAINST THE LORDS 101 

the provisional character of Governor Nicholson's com- 
mission under which he acted, that the vexed questions 
remained vexed. 

In 1731, the negotiations between the King and the 
Proprietors being at last concluded, Robert Johnson was 
sent out with full authority as first Royal Governor of the 
Province. Great was the rejoicing of the people. They 
thoroughly respected Johnson, and appreciated the security 
which the new government would bring. " Since the 
Province was taken under the Royal care," says Ramsay, 
" it was nursed and protected by a rich and powerful 
nation, its government was stable, private property was 
secure, and the privileges of the people extensive." 

Nevertheless the province lost severely when the division 
between North and South Carolina was formally made — 
a vagueness of geographical knowledge as to the true 
position of the mouth of the " Waggamaw" River costing 
her thirty miles of sea-coast that should have been hers. 
Still more did she lose, however, when his " most Gracious 
Majesty for the better protection of his beloved people of 
South Carolina," decided to plant another colony to the 
south to be called Georgia. Here too knowledge was not 
precise, and by these repeated abscissions the Province was 
reduced to the odd little triangle of her present boundaries. 
No uneasiness seems to have been felt, however, and the 
interest was great when it was known that General Ogle- 
thorpe with his colony had arrived at Port Royal. The 
Assembly was in session, which, Governor Johnson said, 
alone prevented his going in person to escort the General 
to his own territory, but he sent Colonel Bull to assist 
with advice and experience. The Assembly voted money, 
cattle, and rice, and twenty rangers as a guard to the new- 
comers. Many gentlemen and ladies sent contributions, 
lending negroes to help build the new town, and giving 
provisions, horses, etc., for its support. No such help had 



102 CHARLESTON 

the early settlers of Charles Town received. Several 
gentlemen went with Colonel Bull as assistants, and by 
way of encouragement, Mr. Hume sent a silver pap boat 
and spoon to be given to the first child born in Georgia ; 
which, the narrator adds, " was soon claimed" ! 

Interest quickened yet more, when Oglethorpe, having 
started his town of Savannah, arrived in Charles Town to 
ask further aid, and was received at the wharf with military 
honours and deputations of Council and Assembly. The 
Assembly voted him ten thousand pounds for the coming 
year and (the newly established Gazette says) invited the 
General and staff to a "banquet." The reader must re- 
member that, unless specified, " pounds " do not mean 
"sterling," but "currency" — about five to one. There 
was drinking of loyal toasts, the guns in the batteries fired 
a salute, and the General, not to be outdone, gave not only 
a dinner, but " a ball and cold supper to the ladies at the 
Council Chamber, where was the greatest appearance of 
fashion, that has been known upon such an occasion." 

Evidently, therefore, there had been balls before, but for 
want of a newspaper no mention of them survives. The 
G-azette had only begun in 1721-1722, coming out every 
Saturday : a queer little grayish sheet, with very black 
lettering, still to be seen in the Charleston Library. 

. It was edited by Louis Timothee, a Huguenot, who like 
many of his race Englished his name and called himself 
Louis Timothy. He, his widow, their son, and their son's 
widow, and her son, carried on the paper until 1800, when 
it was replaced by the Charleston Courier, partly owned 
by a great-grandson. 

Not without trouble had permission been obtained for 
the existence of the paper. Soldiers have never been very 
fond of the press, and General Sir Francis Nicholson was 
every inch a soldier. When it was proposed to him to 
establish a printing-press in order that the laws of South 



THE KING AGAINST THE LORDS 103 

Carolina, carefully codified by Chief Justice Trott, might 
be printed, he had thrown every obstacle in the way. He 
said : "It may be seen how very chargeable it is to have a 
printer come hither, and if any should come I can't sutler 
him to exercise his trade without his giving very good 
security not to print anything without license. And I 
can't give him any for printing the body of the laws, till 
his Majesty's will and pleasure be known thereon ; so that 
in my opinion the money appropriated for a printer may 
be disposed of for the good of his Majesty's Province." 
Sir Francis hated Trott, and so did his successor, Mr. 
Middleton, who speaks of " Mr. Trott's unreasonable 
proposal to print our laws," and hatred prompted the re- 
sistance. The laws were nevertheless printed by special 
direction and at the King's expense in Charles Town, by 
" Eleazar Phillips of Boston, first printer to his Majesty." 
Phillips promptly died of yellow fever ; another unfortu- 
nate met the same fate in 1733, and Timothy himself lived 
only four years. It was the pursuit of journalism under 
difficulties, but the paper, as has been said, survived. 

Before long it had to announce the death of the " good 
Governor " Robert Johnson, who died in May, 1735. It 
gives a long account of the funeral services, how he was 
" decently interred in a vault near the altar in Charles 
Town Church," and was " attended to the grave " by 
Council, Assembly, Military, etc., and "by a numerous 
assemblage of gentlemen and ladies, who came from all 
parts of the Province to pay their last respects to one, 
whom they might justly look upon as their common 
Father." The Assembly erected a monument to him in the 
church, which was consumed with it one hundred years 
later. 

Governor Johnson when he came from England had 
brought with him the commission of lieutenant-governor for 
his brother-in-law, Colonel Broughton — a title not bestowed 



104 CHARLESTON 

by the Proprietary government. It was constantly used 
henceforth, and was always conferred upon a native of the 
Province, who was addressed as " Your Honour," the 
Governor being "Your Excellency." 

On the death of Governor Johnson the authority ac- 
cordingly devolved upon Colonel Broughton, who dying 
in two years, the title was bestowed upon Colonel Bull, 
who administered until the arrival of James Glen in 1743. 
These were on the whole peaceful and prosperous years, 
yet it is easy to see that through them, all one increasing 
purpose runs, the ever strengthening determination of the 
people to be governed according to their own ideas of 
constitutional right and liberty. The Assembly, which 
called itself the Commons, claimed, like its great model, 
the sole right to lay taxes and originate money bills. But 
the Royal Council, appointed by the Governor and ap- 
proved by the Crown, claimed (and claimed legally) that 
its powers exceeded those of the House of Peers (to which 
it willingly likened itself) and when it so pleased, altered 
and added to such bills. This the Commons determined 
to resist, and the struggle went on from the government 
of Mr. Middleton in 1724 to that of Lord William Camp- 
bell in 1776. 



CHAPTER VIII 

GENERAL OGLETHORPE AND ST. AUGUSTINE. THE REV- 
EREND GEORGE WHITFIELD 

GREATLY interested was Charles Town when, in the 
second year of Governor Bull, General Oglethorpe, 
who had repelled an invasion of the Spaniards at Freder- 
ika Island on the coast of Georgia, came to confer about 
carrying the war into the enemy's country. 

The General had, in consideration of his military know- 
ledge and experience, been appointed commander-in-chief 
of the forces of both Provinces, and desired to make his 
expedition a complete one. The project was the more 
agreeable to the Carolinians, because of an insurrection of 
the negroes to the southward, which had taken place but 
a short time before, and which it was found had been in- 
stigated by the Spaniards. They, remembering how 
effective their Indian allies had been in harassing the 
English, had now formed the fiendish plan of raising up 
enemies to them in their own households and inciting the 
otherwise peaceful blacks to murder and rapine. The 
insurrection had been immediately quelled with the loss of 
only twenty-one white and forty negro lives, but the dan- 
ger had been great. There were thirty-two thousand black 
to fourteen thousand white people in the colony; they 
were an excitable race, and St. Augustine bribed them to 
rebellion. 

Yet there was some hesitation at Oglethorpe's proposi- 
tion, for Moore's disastrous expedition was still fresh in 

105 



106 CHARLESTON 

the minds of the people, and the paper money, which was 
its result, rustled like dead leaves in their pockets. It 
was understood, however, that this would be a very differ- 
ent manner of war. That had been a mere hasty militia 
affair. In this a general trained by Prince Eugene was to 
command his own Royal regiment, one of Georgians, and 
a body of friendly Indians, while, instead of Moore's poorly 
armed schooners, five of his Majesty's warships were to 
cooperate. Warlike counsels prevailed; it was decided 
to make more paper money and raise a regiment of four 
hundred men to serve as an auxiliary force. Thirty-two 
gentlemen volunteered to form an independent company 
and go for the love of adventure, Captain Wright com- 
manding. Governor Bull appointed a day of humiliation, 
fasting, and prayer for the success of the "endeavour 
against his Majesty's enemies," and the expedition started 
in fine spirits. 

It had been declared by Captain Pearce, commanding 
the Royal vessels, " that they ought all to be hung if they 
did not take St. Augustine in a very short time." Never- 
theless they did not take it, and failed as or more ig- 
nominiously than Moore had done. Oglethorpe's force 
was greater and he had artillery, but the mismanagement 
was the same. The general quarrelled with his own offi- 
cers, the navy did not cooperate, and, like Braddock many 
years afterward, he scorned the advice of mere provin- 
cials. Colonel Nathaniel Barnwell (the son of Tuscarora 
Jack), who was serving as volunteer aide, told him that 
his father had left the maxim " Never trust a Spaniard or 
fear an Indian "; but he did both. The first deceived and 
the second betrayed him. He must have seen many 
sieges of fortified places, but only one shell is known to 
have exploded over the fort, and a shot is still shown im- 
bedded in the ramparts which is said to have been thrown 
by his cannon. The Don sat secure and answered a sum- 



GENERAL OGLETHORPE AND ST. AUGUSTINE 107 

mons to surrender by saying that he " should be willing 
to kiss his Excellency's hands — in his Castle." Weeks 
passed and summer came. If January and February were 
the Czar Alexander's best generals, June and July fought 
as well for the Spaniards. Oglethorpe himself was ill; the 
soldiers fainted from heat, cooped in a dreadful little 
fort on Anastasia Island, where Ribault's men had been 
slaughtered two hundred years before. Even the Indians 
succumbed. It all ended in a mortifying retreat and 
painful recriminations. 

The story does not belong to Charles Town except as so 
many of her men were concerned. Most of these were 
sons of those who had fought under Johnson and Craven. 
One alone of that generation took part in this war. 
Colonel Palmer, who had driven the Yemassees as a " strip- 
ling," now fell before St. Augustine. There were some 
new names. Vander Dussen, the colonel, had come re- 
cently into the Province, planting on Goose Creek. Of the 
others — Lieutenant Le Jau was the son of the excellent 
missionary ; Major Colleton, a kinsman of the Landgrave; 
Captains Bull and Wright were sons of the lieutenant- 
governor and the chief justice. De Saussure, Maxwell, 
Bryan, and Blamyer, lieutenants, are names that appear 
first about this time. 

The men of the Proprietary days were passing away. 
James Moore and William Rhett died within a few 
months of each other. They had been enemies, but the 
son of the former married the daughter of the latter and 
from them the present Rhett family — and many others — 
are descended. Arthur Middleton too was dead. His 
son Henry, the creator of the beautiful " Middleton Place," 
was to become as eminent as his father. 

Chief Justice Trott survived all these, not dying until 
1740. He had married Colonel Rhett's widow, and his 
daughter became the wife of her son, but they left no 
male heirs. 



108 CHARLESTON 

Trott had not resigned his great influence without a strug- 
gle. As long as there was the least chance of the return of 
the Proprietors he plotted and schemed for it. When that 
hope failed, he tried to persuade the King to restore him 
to office. Finding this of no avail, he returned to Charles 
Town, where he died. His obituary makes no mention. of 
his great and useful work of codifying the laws, but says : — 

" On the Twenty-first of January last, died Nicholas 
Trott, Esquire, Doctor of Laws, who for several Years 
past was Chief Justice of this Province, during the Time 
the Government was in the Hands of the Lords Pro- 
prietors and at several Times had Commission from the 
Admiralty of England to be Judge of the Court of 
Vice Admiralty here. Continued in the Office of Chief 
Justice, till the Lords Proprietors were ousted of the 
Government. After that he lived private and retir'd 
from all publick Business, and applied himself wholly 
to perfect his designed Explication of the Original 
Hebrew Text of the new Testament; and finished one 
large Vol. in Folio fit for the Press some short Time 
before his Death. He was born January 19, 1662-3, 
and died January the 21st, 1739-40, being 76 years of 
Age." (Saturday, February 2, 1740.) 

This commentary does not appear to have been pub- 
lished, and the cool tone of the notice, — not a word of 
praise, nothing of "genteel interment" or "mourning 
people," — shows how unpopular the once all-powerful 
chief justice had become. 

It should perhaps have been mentioned before that in 
Sir Francis Nicholson's time it had been definitely ar- 
ranged that the Church in South Carolina should be of 
the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. The Bishop's 
delegate was the commissary who held sway over all 
" ecclesiastical matters in North and South Carolina, 
Georgia and the Island of New Providence." 



THE REVEREND GEORGE WHITFIELD 109 

In 1740 this important functionary was the Reverend 
Alexander Garden, always known as ''Commissary Gar- 
den." Besides his general charge over the religion, morals, 
and orthodox practices of all the clergy in this wide 
domain, the good gentleman was rector of St. Philip's, 
and superintendent of a very large school for the teach- 
ing and Christianizing of negroes; a subject to which 
much attention was now being paid. He was a most 
excellent man and not illiberal according to the ideas of 
his time. He gladly welcomed Charles Wesley on his 
Southern journey, and invited him to preach at St. 
Philip's, and to attend one of the visitations which he 
held for Ids clergy, where views on religious topics 
were exchanged. Dr. Dalcho says that Wesley described 
this conversation on " Christ our Righteousness " as 
such " as he had not heard at any Visitation in England, 
or on hardly any other occasion." But Wesley still con- 
formed to the usages of the Church. 

When the Reverend George Whitfield came, by special 
invitation of General Oglethorpe, to evangelize Georgia, 
Dr. Garden received him with equal cordiality. But 
Whitfield was not to be held within the narrow bounds 
of rubrics. He was, above all things, a great preacher, 
and he demanded a great congregation — preferred a big 
field to a small church, conducted services without prayer- 
books, and took up collections as willingly in a Meet- 
ing House as in St. Philip's itself. 

It was very rousing, of course, and probably of per- 
manent benefit to many minds, but it was utterly repug- 
nant to the strictly canonical commissary and he had not 
the slightest doubt but that it was his duty to stop it. 
He might as well have tried to stop Niagara. Whitfield 
positively refused to pause in work for which he felt 
himself inspired, and the tide of his eloquence swept all 
before it. If he had only resigned the title of church- 



110 CHARLESTON 

man, it would have been well, but he continued to claim 
the name while violating the laws. 

Dr. Garden appealed and enjoined, and finally sum- 
moned an ecclesiastical court to try the offender. There 
could be but little doubt as to the result. Whitfield's 
breaches of the law had been done in the high places 
and could not be denied. Mr. Green for the prosecut- 
ing Church had his case clear. Mr. Andrew Rutledge, 
a young lawyer, lately arrived from North Ireland, did 
all that could be done in denying the powers of the 
Court. Judgment was of course given for the com- 
missary, and sentence was pronounced. Whitfield was 
suspended from office, "denounced, declared and pub- 
lished, etc." 

A touch of persecution is the breath of an enthusiasm; 
Whitfield was a martyr and Methodism grew apace. The 
commissary's own account is interesting. He wrote to a 
friend : — 

"I am also under still further obligation to you, for 
the favourable Sentiments you are pleased to express of 
the late Attempts I have been drove into, (under that 
of old age and other Infirmities) in Defence of what I 
firmly believe to be the Cause of Truth, against the 
Franticks gone forth 'mongst us. I could now indeed wish, 

that my Pen agt w d had run in somewhat smoother 

a Stile. But had you been on the Spot, to have seen 
the Frenzie he excited 'mong the people; The Bitterness 
and Virulence wherewith he raved against the Clergy 
of the Chh. of England in general; — and how art- 
fully he laboured to sett the Mobb upon me in particular; 
— I dare say, you would have thought the Provocacaon 
enough to ruffle any Temper, and a sufficient Apology 
for the keenest expressions I have used against him. 
And as to my putting the Eccles. Laws in Execution 
against him, my Conscience would give me no Peace 




St. Philip's from the Huguenot Churchyard 



111 



112 CHARLESTON 

had I neglected so bounden a Duty. I have always ex- 
ecuted them on offending Clergymen in this Province, 
whose offences reached not near the Size and Notoriety 
of his, and with God's assistance shall continue to do 
so. When he continued a Presbyter of the Chh. in 
England, he was Subject to her Laws ; now he is cast 
out they have no further hold. 

" As to the State of religion in this Province, it is bad 
enough, God knows. Rome and the Devil have contrived 
to crucify her 'twixt two Thieves, Infidelity and Enthu- 
siasm. The former, alas ! too much still prevails ; but as 
to the Latter, thanks to God, it is greatly subsided, and 
even on the point of vanishing away. We had here 
Trances, Visions and Revelations, both 'mong Blacks 
and Whites, in abundance. But ever since the famous 
Hugh Brian, sousing himself into the River Jordan, in 
order to smite and divide its Waters, had his eyes opened, 
and saw himself under the Delusion of the Devil, those 
things have dwindled into Disgrace, and are now no 
more." 

There was good reason to dread the influence of this 
emotional kind of piety upon half -educated and enthusias- 
tic natures. The unlucky Mr. Bryan alluded to, had as 
a boy been carried off by the Indians and had remained a 
long time in captivity. Under the excitement of Whit- 
field's fervid eloquence he lost his head completely — saw 
visions and dreamed dreams. At first he only went about 
denouncing the regular clergy, declaring that the negro 
insurrection, the failure of the St. Augustine expedition, 
and the great fire of 1740 were all caused by their sloth 
and indifference, and glorifying his Apostle. 

Later on his mysticism grew wilder. Miss Lucas says, 
" He imagin'd he was assisted by the Divine Spirit to 
prophesy Charles Town and the country as far as Pon-Pon 
bridge " (about twenty miles) " should be destroyed by 



THE REVEREND GEORGE WHITFIELD 113 

fire and sword, to be executed by the negroes before the 
first of next month.'.' Prophecies sometimes work their 
own fulfilment, and the neighbourhood was justly indig- 
nant, though as knowing the importance of showing no 
fear, people went on quietly on their plantations. 

At last the poor man (not until he had roused much 
attention and excitement in the dangerous class) fancied 
himself ordered to work miracles, " till at length he came 
with a wand to divide the waters and predicted that he 
should die that night. But upon finding both fail, the 
water continue as it was, and he himself a living instance 
of the fallacy of his own predictions, was convinced that 
he was not guided by the Infallible Spirit, but that of de- 
lusion, and sent a letter to the Speaker." 

Poor Mr. Bryan had gone so deep into the ice-cold 
water that had not his brother followed and pulled him 
out, the prophecy of death would have been fulfilled. 
Whether the ducking or the failure restored his senses 
cannot be known ; he made submission to Colonel Bull 
(Speaker of the Commons) and no harm came of it. The 
whole blame was by the church party laid to Whitfield's 
account, " He fancied he was supported in his opinions 
by the sacred oracles and, (as a father of our church ob- 
serves) so did all the preachers of herrissy in the Primi- 
tive Church." On the other hand the Reverend Josiah 
Smith, son of the Landgrave and minister of the White 
Meeting (where Whitfield had preached), and other non- 
conformists, took up his cause warmly, and there was dis- 
sension in the little town. 

From this time on the organized effort to teach and 
Christianize the negroes continued. There had been much 
individual effort before, since the year 1702, when the 
first missionary of the S. P. G., the Reverend Samuel 
Thomas (who was " so discouraged " at finding that the 
Indians were addicted to the taking of scalps), perceived 



114 CHARLESTON 

that the negroes were more hopeful converts. He set up 
a school, taught twenty-three to read, and baptized and 
confirmed several. He lived but a short time, but his 
successor, Mr. Le Jau, was very zealous. In a few years 
there were many negro communicants. As early as 1711 
the Society's reports mention Mrs. Edwards and Mrs. 
Haig, Mr. Morris, Lady Moore, Captain Davis, Landgrave 
and Mrs. Morton, Mrs. Skene, and others as "taking 
particular pains to instruct their people in religion, reclaim 
and reform them." 

The very first difficulty with the savage native African, 
the Carolinians were in a measure spared, for those from 
Barbadoes, the first in the colony, had already received 
some rudiments of civilization and acted as trainers to the 
newcomers. To make them wear clothes, speak English, 
and not murder one another were the first elements of 
education: all hard to inculcate, especially the first. Any 
rag of ornament they would gladly put on, but reasonable 
garments were a burthen, and some men had to be in- 
dulged with petticoats, refusing trousers as indignantly as 
any Highlander. English, of a sort, came more easily, 
their quickness of ear helping to the sounds; but to prevent 
their brutal fights was always one of the most troublesome 
parts of plantation discipline. 

In religious teaching the great difficulty was the in- 
herent separateness of religion and morality in the Ethio- 
pian mind. Dr. Garden's plan for his school was to buy 
two intelligent lads, instruct them carefully in the reading 
of the Bible and Prayer-book, and set them to teach the 
others. The scheme worked well for a time, and com- 
mended itself to the public. Miss Lucas mentions that 
she is herself teaching " two little negro girls, who I in- 
tend for school-mistresses for the rest of the negro chil- 
dren." 

How Dr. Garden's teachers enjoyed it can be under- 



THE REVEREND GEORGE WHITFIELD 



115 







V 



Y^V~~.w VrwrV 



(W^_- 



Early Brick Houses ox Tradd Street. Built by Robert 
Pringle soon after the Great Fire of 1740 

stood by any one who has seen a deacon or a class leader at 
an African camp-meeting! The school was supported by 
the S. P. G. and by subscribers. The commissary him- 



116 CHARLESTON 

self gave the site for the building, a part of the glebe land 
left by Mrs. Aura Coming. It went on prosperously for 
twenty years. Then one " boy " died and the other took 
to evil ways. Why none of their scholars were put in 
their places is not known, but the plan was discontinued. 

In 1742 there were twelve S. P. G. clergymen in the 
colony engaged in missionary work. 

A blessing in disguise befell Charles Town in the year 
1740: a fire, which beginning at the west end of Broad 
Street swept eastward and consumed every house below the 
northern side of that street. The houses were of wood 
and of no great value, but that being the oldest and most 
populous part of the town, there was much distress. It 
was hard to provide shelter for the people. Great quan- 
tities of goods both for export and import were stored 
there, and Governor Bull reported to the Lords of Trade 
that the loss amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand 
pounds. Even the gun carriages in the fortifications, and 
some of the bastions which defended the town, were de- 
stroyed. 

Parliament came to the aid of the colony and sent it 
twenty thousand pounds. The place was rebuilt of brick. 
Many of the houses still remaining between Broad and 
the line of Water streets, all of small, dark brick, date from 
this time on. That on Tradd Street, between King and 
Meeting, built by Robert Pringle (first of the name to come 
to Carolina; a Scotch merchant, and afterward assistant 
justice), but recently taken down, bore the inscription 
" R. P. 1742," cut in stone above the door. 



CHAPTER IX 

governor glenn's picture of Carolina 

FOR eight years there had been no Royal Governor in 
Charles Town ; and although Lt. Governor Bull was 
a wise and well-loved ruler, there was natural excitement 
when James Glenn arrived in 1743. Governors then were 
received in this wise. The Gazette informs us : " Last 
Saturday arrived here in the Tartar man-of-war his Ex- 
cellency James Glenn, Governor and Commander-in-Chief 
of the Province, and Vice-Admiral of the same. Upon a 
signal of five guns being discharged from Fort Johnson the 
Charles Town regiment was drawn up under arms upon 
the Bay ; " — describes the salutes of the forts and " As 
soon as she " (the Tartar) " came to anchor the Clerk of 
the Council and Master in Chancery, having been first 
sent on board to wait on his Excellency and show him a 
proper place of landing, he was received by the Honour- 
able Edward Aitkin and Charles Pinckney, Esq., as 
members of his Majesty's Council, who conducted his 
Excellency through the two lines of foot to the Council 
Chamber, to his Honour the Lieutenant Governor, at- 
tended by the rest of the members of the Council. 

"His Excellency having then produced His Majesty's 
commission, he was conducted by them, — the sword of 
State borne before, — and attended by the Commons 
House and many officers and other gentlemen of distinc- 
tion to Granville's Bastion, where the same was published 
in due form, which was followed by three whirras " 
(hurrahs ? ) a " discharge of cannon at the Bastion and a 

117 



118 



CHARLESTON 



general volley of the regiment. Then his Excellency at- 
tended by all the gentlemen present marched back in like 
manner to the Council, being saluted as he passed by all 




Under the Portico. South Carolina Society Hall, Meeting Street 

the officers of the regiment, and having thus qualified 
himself by taking the usual oaths, His Excellency walked 



GOVERNOR GLENN'S PICTURE OF CAROLINA 119 

back again to Shepheard's Tavern, where a handsome 
entertainment was provided for him, and the numerous 
company concluded the day with joy, the houses being 
handsomely illuminated." 

It was but a small colony that was doing him honour, 
but for a Scotch gentleman of no great rank or impor- 
tance it was a sufficiently agreeable reception ; and Gov- 
ernor Glenn began his administration in a cheerful and 
friendly spirit, which he maintained throughout. 

" To have found Charles Town in ashes " (after the 
great fire) " and to leave it fair, flourishing and fortified," 
was, he wrote to the secretary, his earnest wish and ex- 
pectation. A wish more fully realized than such generally 
are, for the era of prosperity which had already begun was 
to continue for many years. The people were busy, in- 
dustrious, and thriving ; content (except for that ever 
vexed question of the Commons' rights) and taking 
thought for improvement of every kind. Many useful 
institutions began in those years, and societies, both 
charitable and social. The oldest of these, the South 
Carolina, which still dwells in its own handsome house 
in Meeting Street, began in a very small way in 1736. 
A Huguenot having lost his fortune, some of his friends 
agreed to hold a meeting at his house once a week, to 
which each person was to contribute " two bits" or fifteen 
pence. It was called the "Two bit club." The meetings 
were very agreeable ; other persons joined, some to prac- 
tise French, which alone was spoken, others for the 
pleasant company. Both membership and subscription 
increased, and the little " Two bit club " became the 
South Carolina Society. Besides assisting indigent mem- 
bers, and widows and orphans, it established a school for 
a limited number of bo}^s and girls. Dr. Ramsay, writing 
in 1808, says that "several hundred children had thus 
received an excellent plain education." Its invested 



120 CHARLESTON 

property then (derived from gifts and legacies) amounted 
to 1137,000, besides the annual subscriptions. Almost 
every will of those years contains a bequest to the South 
Carolina Society ; and there used to be a story of one old 
gentleman who knocked up his lawyer at dead of night to 
draw a codicil, hoping that it might ease the pains of death 
if the legacy was duly inserted. 

The " St. George's " and " St. Andrew's," English and 
Scotch, but admitting members of other nations, had the 
same object as the "South Carolina." The "Friendly" 
cared for the poor insane, and after the great fire an 
insurance company was started. That, however, which 
has been of the most benefit to the people of Charleston 
was the establishment of the Charles Town Library. 
Carolinians were always rather a "bookish" people, to 
use the old phrase, as people Avho live much in the coun- 
try are apt to be. When your next neighbour is five miles 
away, books, through the long winter evenings, take the 
place of church, visits, theatres, society of all kinds. And 
so in wills and inventories there are almost always books 
carefully bequeathed. Landgrave Morton took the pains 
to direct the distribution carefully. 

" To sonn Joseph Morton, Assemblyes Annotations in 
two volumes, B urges Spiritual refinings, Twise ag't Hord, 
Cambridge Concordance, Cariles eleven volumes on Job, 
B urges on Justification, Wodevirs Body Of Divinity, Cole 
on God's Sovereignty, Pearce his p'percon for Death." 
" To daughter Deborah Blake Baxter's Everlasting Rest," 
Baxter's " Call to Repentance," " At the Judgment Day," 
" Rules for Peace of Conscience," Crooke's " Guide," Fla- 
veir s " Saint Indeed," Watson's " Divine Cordiall," Nor- 
cott "Of Baptism." "To my son Joseph the rest of my 
books." It needs not to remind the reader that Land- 
grave Morton was the head of the non-conformists. Pos- 
sibly the " rest of my books " may have been of a less 







A Bit of a Typical Charleston Garden 
121 



122 CHARLESTON 

severe character. This was in 1685. In 1734 Governor 
Johnson leaves to his eldest son " all household goods, 
plate, pictures, furniture, all Books, coach-chaise and chaise 
horses." No clew to what the books were. The inven- 
tory of James de St. Julien, in 1710, mentions, besides 
much plate and valuable diamond rings, "18 pieces of paint- 
ing, six plates of Don Quixote in frames, 500 pounds worth 
of books, and a violin." It is to be supposed that the 
History of the Don was among the books. 

Miss Lucas in 1743 says, " I have a small library well 
stocked, for my Papa has left me most of his books," and 
mentions incidentally her Plutarch, Locke, Addison, Pope, 
etc., also "dictionaries French and English," and speaks 
of many that she borrows. Virgil, Prince Eugene's Me- 
moirs, Richardson's novels, etc., and promises not to read 
"Father Malbronck." 

The taste for literature was evidently already alive 
when in 1784 a few young men clubbed together their 
small resources, ordered a few books, and then appealed to 
the community. Their " advertisement " was so quaint 
that only its length prevents its being printed here. 

It conjures all men to cultivate a knowledge of Litera- 
ture and Arts ; reminds them that by such knowledge 
States rise and fall. " How different Great Britain is now 
from when discovered by Julius Caesar, think of the fate 
of Babylon, Egypt and Greece"; how horrible to have 
one's children sink " to the gross ignorance of the native 
Indian ! " To prevent this shocking condition, join the 
members of this Society in " handing down the European 
arts and manners." "Lieutenant-Governor Bull is Presi- 
dent of the Society and a sanguine promoter of its laudable 
pursuits " — concluding with this last all-powerful argu- 
ment. 

The community took the suggestion kindly. Books, 
maps, etc., were imported; it became the fashion. The 



GOVERNOR GLENN'S PICTURE OF CAROLINA 123 

Governors were its Presidents (except Governor Boone 
who could not secure election), and at the beginning of 
the Revolution it had almost seven thousand volumes, 
many of which were then consumed by fire. It is impos- 
sible to overestimate what this library has been and is to 
the people of Charleston. 

The reading of books naturally inspires the desire to 
discuss them ; and so about this time began one of the 
first literary societies of the country, — a club, although 
they did not call it so. It was headed by three clergymen 
of different denominations : Mr. Clark of St. Philip's, 
Mr. Hutson of the White Meeting, and an Independent 
minister, who all met together in peace and harmony 
twice a month to discuss " some subject or book literary 
or religious previously agreed upon." The principal lay- 
men were (quoting Dr. Ramsay) u Mr. Laurens, Mr. 
Gadsden, and Mr. Manigault, merchants, Mr. Crawford 
and Mr. Rattray, law r yers and learned men, and several 
others." These gentlemen met at each other's houses 
alternately, opened each meeting by u a short prayer," 
discussed the subject, and afterward " other matters not 
inconsistent with the intention of the meeting." All of 
which was a great encouragement to young Mr. Robert 
Wells, who about this same time opened a shop, and began 
to import the newest books " regularly and early " from 
England. This shop continued until the Revolution. 

Much thought also was then taken for education. Con- 
stantly in the wills there are directions " my son must be 
carefully educated," " the best education in the country," 
" no cost must be spared on the children's education," and 
often the direction is that "if possible" or " if my execu- 
tors see fit" the sons are to be sent u home" to finish their 
studies in England. The children did not lack for oppor- 
tunities in Charles Town itself. The advertisements show 
that schools were numerous. Classical for boys, modern 



124 CHARLESTON 

languages and accomplishments for girls. Dancing and 
fencing are advertised, young ladies are offered " needle- 
work and embroidery," "painting and musick." Hebrew 
and Portuguese are attainable, besides, of course, French 
and Spanish. " High and Low Dutch," and " many in- 
structive amusements to improve the mind." Sacred 
music is taught, and " psalmody according to the exact 
rule." Concerts are much in vogue, — if "accompanied 
by obliging behaviour they may bring in three or four 
hundred guineas per annum." Lectures were adminis- 
tered, "Natural and Moral Philosophy," and electrical 
experiments shown. There were boarding schools for 
children whose parents lived in the country, and tutors 
were in demand to go to plantations. The boys who were 
sent home found a kind friend in Mr. Corbett who, having 
kept a school in Charles Town, returned to England, and 
was made High Bailiff of Westminster. He seems to 
have exercised a sort of surveillance over the whole Caro- 
linian colony there. The incipient doctors often went to 
Edinburgh, and the young merchants were sometimes sent 
to France or to Amsterdam to learn the languages and 
modes of doing business. 

About this time too the curious silence respecting flow- 
ers is broken, and there is constant mention of gardens. 
Mrs. Lamboll is said to have been the first person to have 
one ; it was near the street (then a creek) which still 
bears her name, and Mrs. Hopton and Mrs. Logan soon 
followed. Mrs. Logan was the daughter of the gallant 
Colonel Daniel. Her " Gardeners' Chronicle," written 
when over seventy, was in great demand formerly, but seems 
to have utterly perished, the most careful search failing to 
produce a copy. Many of the landscape gardens of the 
country seats around the town were made or improved at 
this time. Mrs. Drayton at Magnolia on the Ashley, Mr. 
Henry Middleton at Middleton Place, were at work, and 



GOVERNOR GLENN'S PICTURE OF CAROLINA 125 

many others. Crowfield on Goose Creek was said then 
to be the most elaborately beautiful place in the Province. 
It is fully described in the " Life of Eliza Pinckney," 
already so frequently quoted. In an unpublished letter 
she, when Miss Lucas, writes inviting a friend to visit her 
at Wappoo, a letter which shows the fancy of the time. 

To Miss Bartlett, Charles Town. 

"The majestic pine, which imperceptibly puts on a 
fresher green, the young myrtle joining its fragrance to 
that of the Jessamine of golden hue, perfumes all the 
woods and regales the rural wanderer with its sweets, the 
daisies, the honeysuckles and a thousand nameless beauties 
of the woods, invite you to partake the pleasures the 
country affords. 

" You may wonder how I can at this gay season think of 
planting a cedar grove, which rather reflects an autumnal 
gloom and solemnity, than the freshness and gayety of 
spring. I intend to connect in my Grove the solemnity of 
summer and autumn with the cheerfulness and pleasures 
of spring, for it shall be rilled with all kinds of flowers, as 
well wild as garden flowers, with seats of cammomile, with 
here and there a peach tree, orange, plumb, etc." 

The taste for gardening and the love of flowers was un- 
doubtedly increased by the presence of Dr. Alexander 
Garden — not the commissary and indeed no kinsman of 
his though bearing exactly the same name, but a very 
charming man, excellent physician, and enthusiastic bota- 
nist. That was, it will be remembered, the time of Lin- 
naeus, who might almost be said to have invented the 
science of botany. 

Dr. Garden was one of his most enthusiastic pupils, also 
his friend and correspondent. The woods and swamps of 
Carolina were to him a happy hunting-ground. He was 
the popular physician of the town ; " our good Dr. Garden " 



126 CHARLESTON 

occurs in many a letter, and his conversation, which was 
remarkably agreeable, naturally often turned on his favour- 
ite pui'suit. Linnseus named in his honour the beautiful 
" Gardenia, " and he may be said to have given the first 
impulse to horticulture in Charles Town. 

Governor Glenn thought that the colony was going too 
fast and acquiring a taste for wealth and luxury beyond its 
means. He was a Scotchman and looked seriously upon life, 
doing his best according to his lights. We may think his 
lights but dim, when he assured the Lords of Trade that 
the Indians, of whom he had " been making Sovereigns," 
were " well pleased with their titles of King but would be 
better satisfied to be kitchen Boys at Newcastle House." 
Imagine an Indian " Brave " a contented scullion ! He 
spoke with more knowledge when he wrote of the need of 
better fortifications, and of the industries and commerce 
of the place, and of the expense which vexed his thrifty 
mind. 

" I cannot help expressing my surprise and concern to 
find that there are annually imported into this Province 
considerable quantities of ? Fine Flanders Lace, the Finest 
Dutch Linens, and French Cambricks, Chintz, Hyson Tea 
and other East India Goods, Silks, Gold and Silver Laces, 
etc." 

" I have endeavoured to restrain and correct the bias of 
extravagance and luxury, etc, etc." 

He then gives a list of the articles of which he says 
"the quantity is too great and the quality too fine, 
and ill calculated for the circumstances of an Infant 
Colony." 

The infant was nearly a hundred years old and had 
bravely outgrown its swaddling clothes, but it certainly 
does seem to have clad itself richly. The list begins : — 

" The finest Broadcloth. Shrouds. Carpets. Cloth 
of every kind from Cambrick to Osnaburgs. Silks, 



GOVERNOR GLENN'S PICTURE OF CAROLINA 127 

British and East Indian. Stockings, Handkerchiefs, 
gloves and Ribbons. 

" Metals. Pewter household utensils. Brass and cop- 
per wrought of all sorts. Plate and silver wrought. 
Watches, gold and silver, Books. China and other earthen- 
ware. Chairs and Beds. Fans and other millinery ware. 
Looking glasses etc. Pictures and Prints. Salad oil. 
Beer in casks and Bottles. Wine of all sorts, but the kind 
chiefly drunk here is Madeira imported directly from the 
place of growth. Coals, etc, etc." 

Happily this extravagant importation was justified by 
the increasing exports which he also chronicled. The 
colony had a very large trade, for, besides the lumber, 
naval stores, and furs of its earlier days, rice, favoured by 
especial acts of Parliament, now amounted to X 108,750 
sterling, and indigo, lately added by the efforts of Miss 
Lucas to its other staples, had, by giving the planters a 
highland crop, nearly doubled the value of their lands. 
Governor Glenn says that in 1754, ten years after the 
first little crop was gathered, £ 26,000 sterling worth was 
exported. In thirty years this amount was trebled. All 
this occurring in his administration should have satisfied 
the Governor somewhat as to the well-being of his Province. 

There was certainly a great deal of money spent in 
plate and jewels. Evidenced not only by the number of 
handsome things that, surviving the Revolution, still re- 
mained forty-five years ago, but by the mention in wills 
and inventories. 

They are enumerated in all those of the gentry and 
sometimes particular pieces are described. One ver}^ at- 
tractive one is in the will of Mrs. Sarah Middleton, widow 
of Hon. Arthur Middleton, first Mrs. Morton and born 
a Wilkinson. She leaves her stepson, Henry Middleton, 
a " silver tea kettle, lamp waiter and stand belonging 
thereto." This is unusual, for the urns and kettles of 



128 CHARLESTON 

that day were generally warmed by iron heaters for which 
a cell was provided. Also to her stepdaughter her " best 
diamond ring and large silver monteth (?)," besides devis- 
ing " all her books, silver plate, rings and other jewels not 
otherwise given " to her cousins Wilkinson. 

Governor Johnson leaves " To my daughter Margaret 
all the cloaths, watches, Rings, Necklaces, Jewells, Lin- 
nens, Laces, etc., of my late dear Wife," and all his plate, 
etc., to his eldest son. 

These fine things made the ladies very brilliant when 
they attended the newly opened theatres in Dock (now 
Queen) and Church streets. The theatres (" play houses " 
they were generally called) are described as "temporary" 
and were probably not much more than barns, but very 
good acting has been seen in barns, from Shakespeare's 
time down. There were represented a tragedy called 
" The Orphan or the Unhappy Marriage," " The London 
Apprentice or George Barnwell," " Cato, by Mr. Addison 
with a Prologue by Mr. Pope " and the amusing comedy 
of " The Recruiting Officer " given " by special desire of 
the Troop and Foot Companies," all of which were enjoyed 
with clear consciences by the jolly planters and merchants 
of the gay little Southern town. 

Mrs. Alice Morse Earle, in her very ingenious and 
entertaining book " Stage Coach and Tavern Days," has 
given an amusing account of how " Othello " was smuggled 
into New England in 1762 at the " King's Arms Tavern " 
at New Port, Rhode Island, as a " Series of Moral Dia- 
logues in Five Parts, Depicting the evil effects of jealousy 
and other bad Passions, and Proving that happiness can 
only spring from the pursuit of Virtue," etc. 

No such subterfuge was needed in a "Church Colony." 
Mrs. Pinckney tells us at about the same date, how she 
dearly loved a play, and tried never to miss seeing Mr. 
Garrick when in London, and Mrs. Manigault in her diary 




The Pringle House, King St. 



GOVERNOR GLENN'S PICTURE OF CAROLINA 129 

records the representations of " Douglas," " Mourning 
Bride," " Romeo and Juliet," " King Lear," and many 
others. 

No amusement, however, was so dear to the people as 
the races, as was only natural, for horses were bred on 
every plantation and the children were said " to be born 
on horseback." Balls, dinners, even the theatre, were in 
great measure the pleasures of the upper class, but the 
annual " race week" was a great popular festival shared 
in by every one, from the Governor and ladies in the 
Grand Stand to the negroes who sat unmolested on the 
fence tops. 

The whole matter was in the hands of gentlemen who 
bred and ran their own horses. At first merely those of 
the country, a strong small breed called " Chickasaw," 
said to be the descendants of Spanish barbs, which were 
afterward improved by stock imported from England. 
The first course, the " York," was too far from the town 
and the " New Market " was established just outside the 
limits. 

Here were run races commemorated in the " History of 
the Turf in Carolina," by Dr. John Irving, secretary of 
the Jockey Club. " Mr. Harleston's colt against Mr. 
Horry's filly," Mr. Drayton's "Adolphus" against Mr. 
Nightingale's imported " Shadow," etc. The prizes were 
pieces of silver, cups, bowls, or salvers " to cost not more 
than <£100 currency." Few were the sideboards in old 
times that had not one or more of these, all inscribed with 
the winner's name and " York " or " New Market Course." 

The whole low country joined in the sport, as the 
horses came down with their owners from the different 
plantations. The schools gave holiday, the law courts 
closed, the shops were shut, only the sick and the infirm 
stayed at home. The ladies in their carriages, the gentle- 
men on their handsomest horses, the boys on their ponies, 



130 CHARLESTON 

the " poorer sort " in carts and wagons of every kind, the 
negroes in numbers, all thronged from every direction to 
the course. It was a gay, open-air jollification, good- 
humoured and merry, thoroughly enjoyed by all. For 
the members of the Jockey Club and their families was 
always given a ball, considered the culmination of the gay 
season. These races, interrupted by the Revolution, were 
resumed after it and continued in the same fashion down 
to 1860. 

The Governor endeavoured, he said, by advice and ex- 
ample to inculcate frugality, but he established himself as 
became his office, in one of the handsomest houses of the 
town, the Hon. Charles Pinckney's, " beyond the Bridge," 
that is, the " Governor's Bridge " which crossed the present 
Market Street nearly north of St. Philip's Church. It was 
in the new part of the town, just beyond where the old 
wall had been a few years before, and had the advantage 
of a delightful situation, standing in the middle of a whole 
square, on the bay, fronting the water and commanding 
a view of the harbour. The house was a fine specimen of 
colonial architecture, much resembling that built some 
years later by Miles Brewton on King Street, and now 
known as the " Pringle House " ; surrounded by a lawn 
and garden, and with offices, stables, etc., sufficient for 
official dignity. 

It was occupied by successive Governors, Glenn, Lyttle- 
ton, Boone, and Lord Charles Montagu, during the absence 
of the owner in Europe, and the long minority and absence 
of his son. There was much feasting and good company 
in the " commodious mansion house " during those years, 
especially in Lord Charles's time — dinners, balls, and easier 
and more social intercourse. Dinners were stately and 
slow. The tables handsomely set out with the satin-fine 
damask cloths and huge napkins, some of which still re- 
main, — old Nankin or East India china and heavy silver 



GOVERNOR GLENN'S PICTURE OF CAROLINA 131 

and cut glass. " The manner of living nearly the same as 
in England, plentiful tables," says Hewat. But modified 
of course by the climate and by the taste for West Indian 
dishes brought from the islands. " Turtle with saffron and 
negro (Cayenne ?) pepper, very delicate for dressing it," 
terrapins stewed, boiled and baked, and all varieties of fish, 
flesh, and fowl. On one very important point Hewat and 
Dr. Milligan, who wrote within five years of each other, 
bear honourable testimony. The former says, " Where rum 
is cheap " (brought from West Indies) " the use of it will 
not be uncommon, especially among the lower classes of 
people but the gentlemen in general are sober, indus- 
trious and temperate." The latter adds " Madeira wine 
and punch are the common drinks of the inhabitants ; yet 
few gentlemen have not also claret, port, and other 
wines." 

" The ladies are extremely temperate and generally drink 
water, which in Charles Town is very unwholesome, the 
soil not solid enough to strain it sufficiently." This pecu- 
liarity of the soil led to the universal building of cisterns. 
Brick cemented storehouses of rain-water, which, when 
properly constructed and carefully kept, furnish a singu- 
larly pure and healthy water, free from poisonous germs. 
This " cistern water " is still generally drunk in Charles 
Town. 

That the gentlemen should be " sober, industrious and 
temperate " was in view of the work they had to do an 
absolute necessity. It needed every energy and power of 
head and hand to win from the soil of Carolina the wealth 
won by these men. 

There can be no greater mistake than to suppose that 
the Carolina planter ever had the easy, luxurious life of 
his West Indian brother. In the Islands nature is so 
bountiful, so prolific, that the earth yields her fruits to 
but little labour and care. In Carolina every step was 



132 CHARLESTON 

effort, everything was new, everything was to be learned, 
— and taught. 

The proper arrangement and management of a planta- 
tion required the knowledge of many trades, for all was 
done at home. 

The fields must be chosen at the right lay of the land, 
the water gathered into the reserves, the ditches dug, the 
banks raised just to the right point so that the rice might 
never lack and never be overwhelmed by the flood. The 
science of rice planting is difficult and the execution most 
laborious. The master then was new to it, and the 
labourers were untrained savages. To get his work done, 
and his people not overdone, was his constant care, requir- 
ing great judgment. 

How the land shall be prepared, when the crop shall be 
flowed (i.e. covered with water), when and in what degree 
the flow shall be taken off, the exact moment for the harvest, 
are never-settled questions. Every man answers for him- 
self ; according as he answers wisely or foolishly he is a 
good or a bad planter. 

He must be an engineer too, for his drains and quarter 
drains, his banks and flood-gates, must be made with an 
engineer's skill. If a house was to be built, a wagon made, 
a canoe dug out, the crop to be barrelled, — the master 
must direct coopers and carpenters. Barns and stables, 
pigs and sheep, were all in his charge. 

His was the whole management of the negroes. He 
allotted the tasks, enforced obedience, gave orders, settled 
disputes, heard complaints, redressed grievances, and saw 
that all were housed and fed and clad in safety and in 
health. By the beginning of the nineteenth century the 
people were trained and taught, and there were many who 
could direct their fellows sensibly and faithfully : the 
trusted servants of their master. But in 1760 this condition 
had been attained by but few ; all were to be taught, and 



GOVERNOR GLENN'S PICTURE OF CAROLINA 133 

from the time that the planter mounted his horse in the 
early morning, until he had seen his animals stabled at 
night, mind and muscle had been constantly employed al- 
though he might have set his hand to nothing. When 
after supper he sat by his fire or on his piazza, with his 
Shakespeare or Montaigne for cheer and recreation, he had 
accomplished an amount of work which none who had not 
seen it could appreciate. 

And the planter's wife — hers too was a busy part. In 
those days everything was made at home, and she and her 
maids did all that is now done by hospitals and nurses, 
clothing stores and canning factories. 

All clothing for household and plantation was made 
under her supervision, spinning-wheel and loom were 
directed ; all meat was cured, fruits preserved and pickled, 
poultry yard and garden looked to, larder kept full, and all 
the wants of a constant and generous hospitality provided. 
In sickness and trouble the negroes looked to her. She 
dosed the sick, soothed the dying ; scolded the idle and 
praised the industrious ; taught the clumsy fingers to work 
and the savage tongues to speak ; prayed and preached 
religion and morality ; and often had more influence than 
the master himself. Then it was as a recent poet says: — 

"De case was mos' like dis, 
De plantation b'longed to Master 
But ole Master b'longed to Miss." 

It is no wonder that the good lady and gentleman en- 
joyed themselves when his legislative duties called him to 
the Commons or Council: duties which were quite com- 
patible with the theatres, the assembly balls, or the St. 
Cecilia concerts "performed by gentlemen." 

However prosperous a place may be, the elements have 
to be reckoned with. Ten years before it was a fire; in 1752 
it was a dreadful hurricane which ravaged the town. The 
summer had been unusually hot when in September the 



134 CHARLESTON 

storm came. The wind and waves rose to extraor- 
dinary heights. " The water poured in on us from the 
Gulf Stream," Governor Glenn reports. The town was 
flooded, the water raging before the fury of the wind. 
Houses fell, wharves were broken down, the new fortifica- 
tions gave way. The creeks which intersected the town 
rose until they met across the intervening land. The 
waves passed along Church and down Broad Street until 
they fell into the large, partly artificial pond, where the 
old drawbridge had been, opposite to St. Michael's, where 
the post-office and court house now stand. Many persons 
were drowned, others escaped in boats to take refuge in 
the higher part of the town. Every vessel in the harbour 
except the sloop of war Hornet, which was saved by cut- 
ting away her masts, was cast ashore. Schooners were 
driven up into the streets. A pilot boat was dashed 
against the Governor's residence (the Pinckney House), 
her bowsprit knocking a hole into the front wall nearly on 
a line with the second-story windows. 

When the damage was repaired, a few bricks were 
purposely left out as a memento of the great gale, and so 
remained until the house itself was destroyed in 1861. 

Sullivan's Island, where were many of the townsfolk, had 
also been swept, and many drowned. The rest escaped 
among the wooded sand-hills of the eastern end, and half 
a dozen floated up Cooper River on the roof of a house. 

The people saw with horror that there was no ebb, the 
water continuing to rise — another foot would have 
drowned the whole place. But suddenly the wind 
dropped, and then "chopping" round, blew with equal 
violence from the west. In a marvellously short time the 
waters receded and the town remained — a frightful 
wreck. 

The work of restoration at once began — first by filling 
up the creeks and low places which had greatly added to 



GOVERNOR GLENN'S PICTURE OF CAROLINA 135 




Court House Square 



the trouble. The pond, which had been up to this time a 
favourite haunt of wild-ducks, was filled, and in a few 



136 CHARLESTON 

years the State House built on the site. Partly burned 
during the Revolution, it has been restored and is now the 
court house. Streets were run from river to river, and 
Church, Meeting, and King streets extended to South Bay. 
Roughly speaking, the outlines of the lower part of the 
present city may be said to have been traced then. Espe- 
cially does the Battery, the pride of Charleston, owe its 
origin to this great gale. 

The old sea wall from Granville bastion along Vander 
Horst's creek having been broken down, a new one became 
necessary, and Mr. de Brahm, surveyor-general of South 
Carolina and Georgia, came from Savannah to lay out the 
work. He ran his line from the bastion, southwest to 
Broughton's Battery near to the present corner of South 
Bay and Church Street. Thence to a creek opening into 
Ashley River. 

Dr. Milligan, a surgeon who had been for some time in 
the Province, published on his return to London an account 
of Charles Town, written after these improvements had 
been effected. He says : — 

" The Bay St. which fronts Cooper River is really hand- 
some and would delight the eye of any stranger who 
approaches it from the sea." " About eleven hundred 
dwelling houses in the town built of wood or brick, many 
of them have a genteel appearance though generally 
speaking encumbered with balconies and piazzas, and are 
decently and often elegantly furnished." "Apartments 
contrived for coolness, a very necessary consideration." 
He describes the fortifications, churches, etc. ; says there 
are about eight thousand inhabitants, white and black 
nearly equally divided, and of the former : — 

" The inhabitants are of complexion little different to 
the English, of good stature, well made, livety, agreeable, 
sensible, spirited, open-hearted, exceed most people in acts 
of benevolence, hospitality and charity." "The men and 



GOVERNOR GLENN'S PICTURE OF CAROLINA 137 

women who have a right to the class of gentry (who are 
more numerous here than in any other colony of North 
America) dress with elegance and neatness. The per- 
sonal qualities of the ladies are much to their credit and 
advantage." "Middling stature, genteel and slender," 
"fair complexions without the help of art," regular fea- 
tures, etc., etc., " fond of dancing, sing well, play upon 
harpsichord and guitar," etc. " In short all who have the 
happiness of their acquaintance will acquit me of partiality, 
when -I say they are excelled by none in the practice of all 
the social virtues, necessary for the happiness of the other 
sex as daughters, wives, and mothers." 

To all these charming qualities his Excellency proved 
insensible, for he left the colony a bachelor ! He was 
probably glad to go, for trouble was brewing with the 
Indians, and indeed his recall reached him when he was a 
hundred miles from Charles Town on his way to the coun- 
try of the Cherokees. He immediately returned, leaving 
the difficulties to his successor, Governor Lyttleton. His 
rule of twelve years had on the whole been a good one, 
and his wish was gratified. He left the town " fair, forti- 
fied and flourishing." 



CHAPTER X 

ATTAKULLAKULLA. THE STAMP ACT 

GOVERNOR LYTTLETON arrived to find an Indian 
war upon his hands : a war of wider import than he 
knew. Cooper and Gilbert Parker have told dramatically 
how the French, trembling for their American possessions, 
let loose the Indians upon the " backs of the English Col- 
onys." A dreadful policy already instituted by Spain 
and followed by England herself in 1812. The tribal 
outbreaks at various points were more or less involved in 
these measures, but there were individual grievances as 
well. 

In South Carolina the Cherokees, who lived where 
Greenville and Spartanburg are now, had a provocation of 
their own in the encroachments of the settlers by whom 
the upper part of the Province was now (1756) occupied. 
These were of many origins. Colonies of Germans and 
Swiss, one of Huguenots, Scotch and Scotch (Protestant) 
Irish, and Welsh ; besides many people who came generally 
in small parties drifting down from Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania, coming, as the old people used to say, " by the back 
door." They had the advantage of settling in a healthy 
region, less fertile, perhaps, than the low lands of the 
coast, but better adapted for the labour of white men. 
They were mostly " plain people," farmers or cattle dro- 
vers, called " crackers " from their long, smacking whips ; 
with smaller estates and fewer negroes than the low coun- 
try planters, with whom they had little in common. 

Another difference between the sections was that this 

138 



ATTAKULLAKULLA 139 

territory, from about eighty or ninety miles from the coast, 
roughly outlined by the ridge of hills that crossed the 
Province, never was divided into parishes. Hence the 
distinction. " The Parishes " expressed the low country ; 
the oldest, richest, most thickly settled part of the colony, 
closely connected with Charles Town, and under the influ- 
ence of the English Church, and English habits of life 
and thought. But the " Districts " above the ridge were 
larger, poorer, more sparsely populated, and under no 
influence save that inspired by the hard conditions of 
life around them and the sturdy spirit of independence 
which those conditions bred. 

The immediate consequence of this immigration upon 
the town was, that these settlers coming into contact with 
the Indians, disputes arose. Disputes with Indians always 
meant the shedding of blood ; there were murders and 
outrages which demanded redress, and Governor Lyttleton, 
promptly taking up the sword which Glenn had dropped, 
summoned the chiefs to surrender the offenders. 

The Indians professed a wish for peace, but asked that 
their wrongs too should be heard. A deputation of war- 
riors, headed by their great chief Occonostota, passed, 
painted and feathered, through the streets now unaccus- 
tomed to such visitors. The Governor received them in 
state in the Council Chamber, and the chiefs, entering with 
great ceremony, laid strings of white beads in proffer of 
amity at his feet. But the Governor would not take the 
beads into his hands, or grant the " talk " they had trav- 
elled so far to obtain. The lieutenant-governor, who 
like his father and grandfather was wise in Indian matters, 
besought him to listen, accept the terms the chiefs proposed, 
and bind them by important hostages to peace with the 
frontier men. But Lyttleton was ambitious of military 
glory, and told the warriors that he would receive submis- 
sion "in their own country at the points of his bayonets." 



140 CHARLESTON 

He would not allow the delegation to return in their 
own way, but took them with him almost as prisoners, 
which they justly thought bad faith, and permitted them 
to be ill treated on the road. Ordering all the forces pos- 
sible to meet him at the Congaree River, he set forth with 
many of the most considerable gentlemen of the province 
upon his staff. Colonel Bull, Major Hyrne, William 
Moultrie, and others. It was at this time that the name of 
Christopher Gadsden first comes into notice. 

There being no field artillery in the town, he raised a 
company since called the Ancient Battalion of Artillery, 
and having been in the Royal Navy trained the men him- 
self in the use of the guns. This organization, which dis- 
tinguished itself in the Revolution, still exists for social 
and charitable purposes, and is affectionately known as 
"the Old Bats." 

Lyttleton soon found that an army so gathered was little 
better than a mob. But he advanced to the Indian lines, 
made a brave showing, and announced that he was ready 
to receive submission and make a treaty. Completely 
deceived by a wily savage, Attakullakulla or the Little 
Carpenter, he gave up the hostages whom he had in his 
hands on the promise of others never delivered. He signed 
a treaty made to be broken and returned to Charles Town 
to be hailed as a hero and a statesman, when he had really 
effected nothing. The military marched out to meet and 
escort him home, the citizens gave him a banquet, the 
clergy presented an address of commendation, and the 
Library Society, which seems to have considered itself a 
fourth estate (the press had not yet gained that position), 
made him a speech glorifying his conduct of the bloodless 
war, and assuring him that he was not only their " Gov- 
ernor and protector, but the patron of Literature and 
President of the Society, under whose rigorous admin- 
istration, not only riches and commerce but learning 



ATTAKULLAKULLA 141 

and every branch of polite and useful knowledge must 
flourish." 

Of course the Governor's great personal popularity had 
much to do with this enthusiastic greeting. His civil 
administration was good if his Indian was bad, and socially 
he was much liked. The home government evidently 
approved, for he was promoted to the governorship of 
Jamaica, the best gift in the colonial office, and his 
departure was publicly and privately lamented. Mrs. 
Pinckney attributes their escape from " an Indian Warr the 
most dreadful of all warrs " to the " energy and spirit of 
our Governor " and regrets later that " We lose with this 
fleet our good Governor Lyttleton; he goes home in the 
Trent man of war, before going to his new Government 
of Jamaica." He was the last English Governor whose 
going was lamented. 

Actually before his departure Occonostota and his tribe 
had risen, thrown themselves upon the settlers, and com- 
mitted outrages and massacres unnecessary to be related 
here. 

Lieutenant-governor Bull sent in haste to General 
Amherst, commander-in-chief in America, for help in 
this emergency. Troops were sent under Colonel Mont- 
gomery, and afterward under Colonel Grant. After 
much hard fighting the red men were conquered and 
Attakullakulla signed with Lieutenant-governor Bull a 
treaty of peace which lasted until the Revolution. 

This treaty is said to have been signed in the small one- 
story brick house built by the original Stephen Bull, and 
still standing at Ashley Hall. 

The admiration and respect with which Governor Bull 
inspired the red men was shown in curious ways. Dr. 
Maurice Moore, in his "Annals of York," tells the story 
of the Catawbe Indians, who lived in what is now York 
County. The chief in 1770 was called " King Hagler," 



142 



CHARLESTON 



a person of much importance in his tribe. On one occa- 
sion he received a party of white men, who went to visit 
him, with dignity and hospitality, inviting them to dinner. 




'tt'Mji 






The Old Building at Ashley Hall, still standing, where 
Indian Treaty was Signed 

The dinner consisted of venison and sweet potatoes, 
roasted on coals, and served on bits of bark. 

To the surprise of the guests, each piece of meat and 
each potato was offered on a fresh and separate piece of 
bark. Hagler explained that he ordered his meal thus, 
because, when he had been entertained by Governor Bull, 



ATTAKULLAKULLA 143 

he had noticed that a clean platter was used for each 
dish. 

Fenimore Cooper's heroes, the Uncas and Chingach- 
gook, who were the delight of our youth, are, we now know, 
but purely imaginary, but Attakullakulla really was a 
figure for romance. He had all the cunning and treach- 
ery of the savage of to-day, but he was capable of enthusi- 
asm for good and evil. Lyttleton he hated and despised, 
holding him in contempt for having broken the promise of 
safe conduct made to the chiefs, and hating him for the 
insults and ill treatment shown to Occonostota and his 
companions on their homeward journey. It was he who 
contrived their deliverance from the English, and aided in 
the uprising that followed so quickly upon Lyttleton's 
campaign, whereby the " Great Warrior " washed out his 
disgrace in the blood of the white men. But for two 
Englishmen he had a real and passionate friendship, for 
Colonel Bull, whom he esteemed the wisest and truest of 
his race, as is beautifully expressed in his most pathetic 
and eloquent speech at the time of the treaty ; and for 
John Stuart, Indian agent, who had won his affection by 
personal kindness and talent, and for whom he risked his 
influence with his own people. Captain Stuart is himself 
a picturesque and interesting figure. He, more than any 
other white man, understood and influenced the Indians. 
His gallant bearing, personal charm, and dominant 
character impressed them strongly, and to his skilful 
diplomacy it was mainly due that Bull's treaty was so 
well observed for fifteen years. A passionate Loyalist, 
his course in the Revolution made him obnoxious to the 
people ; but there were long arrears of great service to 
the Province, to be set against his later actions. 

Stuart was at the time of the outbreak in Fort London, 
a small fortification on the Tennessee River, built by order 
of Governor Glenn some years before. It was surprised 



144 CHARLESTON 

by the savages and most of the garrison were put to the 
sword. Some few were kept as hostages, and Stuart was 
carefully secured with a view to making him work the 
guns which they had captured, in their next fight, under 
penalty of seeing his fellow-prisoners tortured before his 
eyes. 

As soon as Attakullakulla heard of the event he has- 
tened to the fort and persuaded the men who had Stuart 
in charge to allow him to have possession of the prize, 
giving in return his rifle, knife, and all his most valued 
property. Then, after waiting a day or two to disarm sus- 
picion, he gave out that he and his prisoner were going 
hunting, and promising a good supply of venison, they 
left the camp. 

For nine days they pushed their way northeastward 
through the thickest woods and swamps, not daring to 
go south lest they should meet the Cherokees, and at last 
fell in with a party of Virginians sent out by Colonel 
Byrd in search of fugitives from Fort London. To them 
Attakullakulla surrendered his friend and returned to the 
fort laden with gifts for himself and with promises of 
rescue for the unfortunates who still remained there. It 
was through Stuart's influence and through his confidence 
in Governor Bull's fair dealing that he at last, but not 
until after Grant's victory, was persuaded to sue for 
peace, as already related. 

One important result of these campaigns was the train- 
ing in military skill which many of the Provincials re- 
ceived by serving in company with Montgomery's and 
Grant's regulars. A regiment commanded by Colonel 
Thomas Middleton, younger son of President of Council 
Arthur Middleton, accompanied Grant. In it were Henry 
Laurens, John and William Moultrie, Francis Marion, Isaac 
Huger, Andrew Pickens, and others, all to be officers of 
importance in the coming struggle. As generally hap- 



THE STAMP ACT 145 

pens, the regulars and Provincials did not agree. Colonel 
Middleton thought his regiment injuriously treated in 
Colonel Grant's report, and not only wrote a paper in 
its defence, but according to the custom appealed to the 
sword, " vindicating the honour of his command." 

All these troubles were but precursors of the Revolu- 
tion, and it is curious to see how men in every walk of 
life were being prepared to play their parts in that great 
struggle and how events were tending to bring it about, 
no man yet dreaming thereof. 

Charles Town had perhaps less than any other American 
city cause for dissatisfaction. Her prosperity was great 
and increasing. Dr. Ramsay says that George I. and II. 
were nursing fathers to the favoured colony. Her indigo 
received a bounty, her rice could be sent anywhere south 
of Cape Finisterre. The navigation acts which shackled 
New England troubled her not, and so far from her supply 
of slaves being limited they were actually forced upon her 
by England in 1756 (when the colony passed an act to 
curtail the number imported), lest by so doing "the 
legitimate business of English merchants and shippers" 
should be interfered with. The order runs: — 

" Whereas acts have been passed in some of our plan- 
tations in America for laying duties on the importation 
and exportation of negroes to the great discouragement of 
merchants trading thither from the coasts of Africa. It 
is our pleasure that you do not give your assent to or pass 
any law imposing duties on negroes imported into our 
said province of South Carolina, etc., etc." 

Still there were some grievances besides that constant 
one of interference by the Royal Governors with the right 
of the Assembly to self-taxation, the foreshadowing of the 
resistance to the Stamp Act. Chief of all was the mor- 
tification of seeing their highest offices, especially in the 
judiciary, filled by men often of poor capacity and evil 



146 CHARLESTON 

character, and the conviction which they could not escape, 
that no matter how fit for dignity or office a Provincial 
might be, he could never achieve a position of any im- 
portance under the government. 

The young men sent to England, who came back with 
the ambitions of educated Englishmen, laid this lesson to 
heart and it rankled there. The injustice was felt soon 
after the Royal government began and it increased with 
time, the first conspicuous instance being the case of 
Colonel Pinckney, the husband of Mrs. Pinckney so often 
quoted. He was of the second generation in the Province, 
his father, Thomas Pinckney, having come from England in 
1692. He had been sent to England as a youth and edu- 
cated there, " bred to the bar, " and is said to have been 
the first Carolinian ever admitted barrister in England. 
Returning to this country, he became a prominent lawyer 
and planter and amassed a fortune. He took a leading 
part in the dispute between the Commons and the Coun- 
cil in Governor Middleton's time, drawing up the statement 
of the rights and privileges of the House on the tax ques- 
tion, for which he was formally thanked by the Speaker; 
and was afterward himself a member of the Council. 
His son, General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, tells the 
story not only of his father's case, but of the whole situ- 
ation, in the following (unpublished) letter: — 

[Address lost.] " Charleston, Sept. 18th, 1819. 

" The removal of my Father from the Chief Justiceship 
of this Province carries me near to my first recollection. 
It was about the year 1752 that the great contest for the 
Westminster election was decided between Lord Trentham 
the Ministerial candidate and Sir G. Vandeput the oppo- 
sition candidate. Mr. Leigh was then an eminent counsellor 
in England, and High Bailiff of Westminster. He re- 
turned Lord Trentham as duly elected when Sir George 



THE STAMP ACT 147 

Vandeput ought undoubtedly to have been returned as 
the successful Candidate. The opposition was so exceed- 
ingly angry at this return that they began to take serious 
measures to indite Mr. Leigh for perjury ; to disarm them 
he offered to vacate the office of High Bailiff, and as our 
Judges then held their offices not quam diu se bene gesse- 
rint; but durante bene plaeito of the Crown, my Father's 
chief Justiceship was taken away from him, and conferred 
on Mr. Leigh, who held it to his death ; and as he was a 
man of ability and a good lawyer he filled it well. On 
his death Mr. Simpson, a Scotsman, not a lawyer, was 
temporarily appointed, and afterwards a Mr. Skinner (an 
Irishman) still less of a lawyer than Simpson, he was made 
Chief Justice through the interest of Lord Halifax's Mis- 
tress (Lord Halifax being first Lord of Trade.) and held 
the office till the Stamp Act, when he refusing to do busi- 
ness without stamps the Assembly in the absence of the 
Governor ( ) prevailed upon Lieutenant Gov- 

ernor Bull, to appoint Mr. Lowndes, Mr. Benjamin Smith 
and Mr. Doyley, Judges, and they with Mr. Pringle who 
was a Judge before, opened the court without stamps, and 
did business as usual. Skinner died soon after and Ben- 
jamin Smith resigned, the rest held their offices till about 
the year 1770 or '71 when (by our circuit court) salaries 
were given to our Judges. A Secretary of State instead 
of a Board of Trade being appointed for the Colonies, and 
Lord Hillsborough (an Irishman) being appointed First 
Secretary of State in the Colonies, he vacated the existing 
Commissions and appointed a new set of Judges most of 
them Irishmen. I do not believe that the system of inter- 
nal taxation was particularly contemplated by this meas- 
ure, but as we gave salaries to our puisne Judges by this 
act, that they might have persons devoted to them and on 
whom they could depend to fill the places. 

(Signed) "Charles Cotesworth Pinckney." 



148 CHARLESTON 

The number of these young aspirants for honours was 
great, and their position as sons of the most prominent 
families of the Province made them the more uneasy under 
the slight. With very few exceptions every man who at- 
tained distinction in the Revolution had either been edu- 
cated abroad, or had travelled enough to perceive the 
difference between the wide scope offered to talent there, 
and the narrow limits to which it must be confined in 
Carolina. 

General Pinckney in another letter shows the number 
of young men at the time present in England. 

" September, 1819. 

"General C. C. Pinckney, 

" My Father carried his family to England for their edu- 
cation in the year 1753. At that time I remember that 
Mr. McKensie and Mr. Ralph Izard, Senior, John Rutledge 
and Arthur Middleton were already there. With me went 
my brother, then about two years old, — I was then about 
seven — Wm. Henry Drayton, his brother, Dr. Charles 
Drayton, and Stoutenburgh ; and there afterwards came 
Thomas Lynch, Paul Trapier, Thomas Heyward, Hugh 
Rutledge, Harris, Moultrie, Hume, Judge Grimke, Ralph 
Izard junior, Walter Izard, the Middletons and Stead. 
After I returned home in the year 1769 Ned Rutledge, 
General Read, and Major Garden went. 

" Of these Hume was the only one who joined the British 
cause. There may be other Carolinians who were edu- 
cated in England about the time of the Revolution that I 
do not at present recollect. I have not named several 
who were at Edinburgh. Dr. Baron, Dr. Fayssoux, Dr. 
Chandler and Dr. Harris. If any name should occur to 
me I will send them to you." 

The young doctors generally went to Edinburgh and 
the merchants sometimes to France or Holland, but the 



THE STAMP ACT 149 

great majority were sent "home." Many of them to 
Westminster School ; Thomas Lynch to Eton, and then to 
one of the ancient Universities and to the Law schools. 
Of course the expense was considerable. In the " Account 
of the Manigault Family," published in the " Transactions 
of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina," 1897, it is 
stated as being about 13000 a year, a large sum for those 
frugal days. The barrister's gown and " tye wig " alone 
are said to have cost fifty guineas, or $250. This was for 
the full costume of a " Templar." 

Undoubtedly they enjoyed life as young fellows should; 
many had relatives and friends who could make things 
pleasant for them, — the Blakes, Middletons, Izards, etc. ; 
and Mr. Corbett, friend and guardian of most, evidently 
had it in his power to secure them certain advantages. 
But they did not go to idle away their time, as rich men's 
sons are apt to do ; the training was careful and the result 
showed how well they worked. In a long letter from 
General Pinckney, written at the request of a teacher in 
a Charleston school, he details minutely the course at 
Westminster. 

A little boy, expected only to be able to read and write, 
is admitted to the " Petty Form " and instantly begins 
with Busby's Latin grammar, and apparently learns nothing 
else. Through various upper and lower " forms " Busby 
still clings to him, accompanied by Phsedrus, Martial, 
Ovid, etc., until on arriving at the " lower third " he begins 
Prosody, scans and writes Latin verses. Latin verses he 
makes all through his school life. No translations are 
allowed, the dictionary is his only hope. " The school 
days are every day of the week except Saints' days, when 
you go to church and prepare an exercise." On Thurs- 
days and Saturdays, half -holidays, there are also exercises 
to be prepared. " School hours in summer are from Six 
in the morning to twelve at noon but are let out gener- 



150 CHARLESTON 

ally (a form or two at a time) to go to breakfast. " Imagine 
the poor little hungry wretches who get out last ! 

" In the afternoon the school hours are from Two to 
Five o'clock. In the winter the school hours are the 
same, except that you do not go to school before seven 
o'clock, and as it is dark before five, each boy has a small 
wax taper in his hand by which to get his lesson " ! 

Sometimes they have a half-holiday on Tuesday, if it is 
" begged by some nobleman or gentleman who has been 
educated at the school." 

In the upper school — through under and upper fourth, 
fifth, " Shell," and sixth forms, the boy passes, still learn- 
ing Latin and Greek under the strictest supervision, liable 
to " corporal punishment " by a " Master," never by an 
" Usher " — and there is an awful book in which daily a 
boy's shortcomings are entered. Also, if he has made a 
very good exercise or behaved uncommonly well the same 
recording angel makes note of it. These exercises are gen- 
erally in Latin verse — for instance, " An ode of Horace 
is set of which the metre is to be changed ; as a Sapphic 
ode into long and short verse " ! On Saturdays there are 
Bible lessons and " exercises to be done out of school and 
shown up on Monday morning." The higher the Form 
the more Greek, until in the last, the seventh Hebrew 
grammar and some of the psalms come in. There are 
recitations from Virgil, Homer, and Milton, the last the 
sole recognition of English literature, or indeed, with the 
exception of the Bible and Catechism, of the English lan- 
guage. There is a Greek play just before Christmas, 
and Confirmation at " Bartholomewtide," with careful 
explanation of the Church Catechism. The account con- 
cludes, " Latin and Greek and the Rudiments of the 
Christian Religion are the only things avowedly taught, 
and it is difficult to go through the school without being 
a fair Latin and Greek scholar and being able to assign a 
reason for the faith that is in you." 



THE STAMP ACT 151 

These extracts have been made to show the ideal of 
education at that day, — very different from ours. There 
is one passage, however, showing the greater individuality 
which the English claim for their system of school educa- 
tion over ours. 

"In the Shell (between the fifth and sixth forms) 
you still go on with Horace and Virgil, construe Sallust, 
read Homer's Iliad, also Xenophon. Themes and verse 
exercises as in the fifth, but they are expected to be 
longer and better composed. It is conjectured you are 
now so far advanced that, besides the usual school exer- 
cises, you have time to do private studies. I remember 
making a translation of the whole of the i Castilinarian 
War ' for my private studies while in the Shell. The book 
containing your private studies is generally called for by 
the Head Master every three or four weeks, and a boy's 
reputation is increased or diminished by the pains he has 
taken with these private studies." 

These were the duties of the schoolboys. Much more 
was expected of them when they addressed themselves to 
the studies of men. 

There is a letter, published in O'Neale's " Bench and Bar 
of South Carolina," from John Rutledge, who had recently 
returned from England, to his young brother Edward, who 
had just gone there in 1769, which shows what these ex- 
pectations were. 

The somewhat authoritative tone is probably due to the 
fact that the elder had stood in an almost paternal relation 
to the younger brother for nearly his whole life, their 
father, Dr. John Rutledge, who had come from the north 
of Ireland, in 1735, having died before his eldest son was 
twelve years old. Greatly abridged, it is: — 

" The very first thing you should be thoroughly ac- 
quainted with is the writing of short hand, which you will 
find an infinite advantage. Take down notes of every- 



152 CHARLESTON 

thing in Court, even if not worth transcribing, for your 
time may as well be employed in writing as in hearing." 
" By no means fall into the too common practice of not 
attending a place of worship — there is generally a good 
preacher at the Temple Church." " Be constant in attend- 
ing the sittings in Chancery, but I should prefer attending 
the King's Bench and sittings of the Chief Justice of that 
Court at Nisi Prius when they are held. Remember what 
I hinted to you of attending alternately in the different 
courts, etc., etc." "You must exert yourself to the utmost 
to be able by some means or other to attend the House of 
Commons constantly, or whenever anything of consequence 
is going on ... at all events get admittance and make 
yourself well acquainted with the speakers. Reading lec- 
tures upon oratory will never make you an orator. This 
must be done by hearing and observing those who are 
allowed to be good speakers. Attend the House of Lords 
upon every occasion worth it. What I intend is that you 
may have opportunities of seeing and hearing the best 
speakers, and of being able on occasion of giving your 
sentiments upon what you have seen and heard." He 
must attend Sheridan's lectures, " He reads with propriety 
though much too stiff, and his voice exceeding bad." 

" The Circuit Bill (a bill for establishing circuit courts 
in the Province which had been opposed by the Govern- 
ment) goes with Lord Charles, and if it is confirmed at 
Home, you should make yourself acquainted with the mode 
of doing business upon the circuit in England." 

" If you stick to French and converse generally in that 
language you may soon be master of it," etc. " Whatever 
you attempt make yourself completely master of ; nothing 
makes a person so ridiculous as to pretend to things he 
does not understand. I know nothing more entertaining 
and more likely to give you a graceful manner of speak- 
ing than seeing a good play well acted, Garrick is inimi- 



THE STAMP ACT 153 

table . . . mark him well and you will profit by him. 
You must not neglect the classics . . . get a good pri- 
vate tutor who will point out their beauties to you and 
make you in six months at your age better acquainted 
with them than a boy at school generally in seven or eight 
years. Read Latin authors, the best frequently." He 
advises making a commonplace-book filled with the finest 
passages of ancient and modern authors. " Lord Bacon 
did not think this beneath him, read his apothegms." On 
cultivating taste and style. "Now is the time to go 
through a great deal of this, when you begin the practice 
of law it will be too late." He enlarges on the importance 
of correct expressions, " a speaker should engage the con- 
stant attention of his hearers, command it, and carry im- 
mediate conviction along with it," recommends the careful 
study of English History, and of many law books, dis- 
criminating carefully between those practically useful and 
those rather curious as history. 

"And when I say read I don't mean run cursorily 
through it as you would a newspaper, but read carefully 
and deliberately and transcribe what you find useful in 
it." "Bacon you know is my favourite." "You will 
think I have cut out work enough for you while in Eng- 
land, and indeed though it is a long time to look forward " 
(four years) " if you mind your business you will not have 
too much time to spare. However I hope you will not 
fail to do this. Your own reputation is at stake. You 
must either acquire it when young, or else it will be very 
difficult to acquire." " One word in regard to your deport- 
ment. Let your dress be plain, always in the city and 
elsewhere, except when it is necessary that it should be 
otherwise, and your behaviour rather grave." Farewell 
my dear Brother. Let me hear from you by every oppor- 
tunity believe me 

" Yours affectionately, 

"J. RlTTLEDGE." 



154 CHABLESTON 

One wonders when the poor young fellow was to find 
time to eat and sleep, but at least the elder preached only 
what he had himself recently practised, and the gospel of 
work had its proper reward of esteem and fame to both. 

Such was the training of the sons of Charleston who 
were to lead her in the new way. A man does not work 
and study thus, and seek to emulate the great ones of his 
time, without hope Of reward — the reward dear to an 
ambitious heart of standing foremost among his people, 
an acknowledged leader of men. 

This was perhaps the grievance of a class, unfelt by the 
people at large, and although the gentlemen were wounded 
in their pride by these appointments, and expressed them- 
selves strongly on the subject, as Josiali Quincy relates in 
his journal in 1773, the feeling of loyalty was strong. 
The Crown had come to the help of the colony when 
suffering under the misrule of the Proprietors, and the 
intercourse with the Mother Country was too frequent 
and too friendly for gratitude and affection to have lost 
their force. 

The accession of the young king, the first English- 
born king for so many years, was greeted with shouts of 
joy ; coronation and wedding were celebrated with din- 
ners and balls, and accounts of them were awaited, Mrs. 
Pinckney says, with " an impatience not to be equalled by 
any people's within less than four thousand miles." 
yy The opening of St. Michael's, which came about this 
time, gave pleasure to all. Ten years before it had been 
decided that more church accommodation was needed, and 
that a new edifice should be erected on the site of the first 
St. Philip's, whence we may conclude that scheme of 
putting the Town Hall into the churchyard had fallen 
through. In 1752 Governor Glenn, then in office, laid the 
corner-stone. The ceremonies, without which nothing 
could be done, — a public dinner with His Majesty's health 



THE STAMP ACT 155 

and salvos of artillery from Granville Bastion, — " con- 
cluded a day of peculiar pleasure and satisfaction." That 
of course was King George II.'s health, but before the 
church was completed ten years had gone by, and it was 
the young King for whom the cheers resounded. The 
bells unfortunately were not up in time to send out a peal 
of rejoicing for accession or bridal. They did not reach 
their steeple — the steeple 190 feet high which long served 
as the guide to mariners along the coast — until 177-1. 
From that day to this the bells of St. Michael's have been 
the voice of the town. It would be hard to explain to a 
stranger the strong personal feeling that every Charles- 
tonian has for the sound of these, " The sweetest chimes 
in all the land.'' It has spoken to him from his childhood 
of worship, of terror, of sorrow and joy. Their tone is 
sacred to his ears, and men who have long dwelt in exile 
have yearned to hear it once more before they died. 

It is hardly necessary to describe this well-known 
church, said much to resemble some of those built by Sir 
Christopher Wren, especially " St. Martin's in the Fields." 
Sir Christopher was certainly not the architect, for he died 
thirty years before it was begun, and the name of the 
builder remains uncertain. 

It was handsomely furnished, his Excellency Governor 
Boone (who had but lately arrived) giving the altar plate, 
which was added to by many citizens. Mr. Fenwicke 
gave the chancel furnishings of crimson velvet with gold 
fringe and lace, and Jacob Motte, treasurer of the Prov- 
ince, " fine damask cloths and napkins " and the church 
books. 

Less fortunate than St. Philip's, this plate was all 
lost — looted in Columbia by General Sherman's army in 
1865. The vestry advertised in vain ; but after some 
years Mr. A. W. Bradford of New York, seeing in a pawn- 
broker's shop a tankard inscribed, " The gift of His Ex- 



156 CHARLESTON 

cellency Thomas Boone Esqr, Governor of this Province, 
to the Church of St. Michael's Charles Town, South Caro- 
lina 1762," bought it and generously presented it to the 
Church. The cover to one chalice was found in Ohio, and 
bought by the vestry, but nothing has ever been heard of 
the rest. 

The town was now divided into two parishes — St. 
^Philip's and St. Michael's, divided b}^ Broad Street ; the 
representation, church property, dues and duties being also 
divided between them ; and in order to oblige people to 
worship in their own parish, no one was allowed to own a 
pew in both churches unless he also owned a house in 
both parishes! An odd piece of paternalism. The his- 
torian of St. Philip's, Mr. McCrady, has shown that this 
regulation has caused an unusual separation of family 
graves — as people had to be interred in their own locality 
without regard to the natural desire to rest with kindred 
dust. 

All the writers, both of history and of letters, agree in 
alluding to these years- as singularly peaceful and prosper- 
ous ones. Crops were good, commerce flourished, and 
society enjoyed itself. 

Governor Boone did indeed make himself very unpopu- 
lar by attempting to interfere with the right of election, 
and had odd little difficulties with Mr. Gadsden, Mr. 
Moultrie, and Sir John Colleton. But the people were 
used to these quarrels between Governor and Assembly, 
and troubled themselves but little about them. Only they 
were glad when he went back to England, leaving Lieu- 
tenant-governor Bull once more in command. 

Upon them the Stamp Act fell like a bolt from the blue. 
Why it should have made such a commotion is, to people 
accustomed to bear with equanimity the most enormous 
taxes, mysterious. It took so little, and so much protec- 
tion and advantage were given, so many troops guarded the 







St. Michael's from Meeting Street 



f 



157 



158 CHARLESTON 

frontier, so many ships patrolled the seas, that one really 
wonders that any objection was made. Still the principle 
was altogether wrong — the same principle against which 
they had struggled for so many years, the claim to tax 
the people without their own consent.. The long contro- 
versy had so educated the people to political thought that 
the importance of the measure was at once understood and 
resented. " No taxation without representation " became 
the cry. Mr. Pitt and Colonel Barre put it into eloquent 
words, and America blazed. Proceedings in Charles 
Town were picturesque if disreputable. The news that 
stamps were coming and a " distributer " appointed caught 
the imagination of the lower orders ; Christopher Gadsden 
harangued the mechanics, St. Michael's bells tolled all day 
as for a funeral, and Charles Town to her great disgust 
found herself in the hands of a mob ! Two thousand men 
paraded the streets, burned the stamp distributer in effigy 
— a sort of Guy Fawkes affair — broke his windows, and 
then proceeded to search for the stamps. Taking it into 
their heads that they were concealed in private houses, 
they first went to Henry Laurens's. No citizen was more 
respected than this gentleman. He was of Huguenot de- 
scent, had been carefully educated in England and France, 
had inherited a fortune from his father, and increased it 
by his own commercial enterprise. He was now a very 
wealthy man, married to the beautiful Eleanor Ball, with 
whom it is said he had fallen in love at first sight at her 
brother's wedding at Coming-tee (Mrs. Affra Coming's 
plantation on Cooper River). Their house, now much 
altered, was the large, gambrel-roofed one, still standing 
upon East Bay opposite the foot of Laurens Street. It 
was then in the centre of a large square, beautifully laid 
out as a garden, filled with fine trees and shrubs from 
every part of the world, under the care of John Watson, 
an English gardener, brought out to attend to it. Mr. 



THE STAMP ACT 159 

Laurens had said distinctly that although he disapproved 
of the Stamp Act he would not approve of the use of force 
in resisting it; consequently the crowd visited him. In 
a letter published in Johnson's " Traditions of the Ameri- 
can Revolution," he describes how this mob of masked 
men rushed into his house and put cutlasses to his breast, 
demanding the stamps. He assured them that he knew 
nothing of these and ordered them out. They were vio- 
lent, crying, "Search, search!" and demanding his keys. 
He " threw them the keys," saying that they were those of 
his wine cellar and they might help themselves. Mrs. 
Laurens, who was very unwell at the time, wrung her 
hands and screamed in terror. But her husband remained 
cool and dominated the situation, desiring them to do his 
garden no harm, and not to alarm his wife. They rum- 
maged about for some time, but did very little damage, were 
careful not to tread on his flower beds, and withdrew, say- 
ing " God bless you, Colonel " (he had been lieutenant- 
colonel of Middleton's regiment in Grant's campaign) ; 
"we hope the poor, sick lady will do well." Apparently 
the mildest-mannered mob that ever broke the law. 

They then went to Chief Justice Skinner's — Skinner 
was a "vulgar and ignorant blackguard." There is a story 
that, getting very drunk at a ball, he was touched by a 
gentleman in the dance. Instantly throwing off his coat 
and wig, he squared his fists, and in the attitude and 
language of the prize ring declared himself ready for the 
fight, and dared each and every man to come on ! But he 
was an Irishman, and had the mother wit of his country. 
He was ready for the rioters with full bowls of strong 
punch, and with every appearance of good fellowship 
drank with them "damnation to the Stamp Act." Thus 
appeased they went home and did no more that night. In 
the meanwhile the stamps were all safely locked up in 
Fort Johnson, where, the Governor informed the people, 



160 CHABLESTON 

they were to stay " until his Majesty's pleasure could be 
known." The gentlemen, Mr. Saxby and Mr. Lloyd, who 
had been appointed " distributers," showed no desire for 
martyrdom, and frankly renounced their office, and things 
gradually quieted down until the inconvenience of doing 
no business became so great that the Bar remonstrated. 
The inconvenience was very great. No newspaper, for in- 
stance, could be issued, for the editor did not dare to send 
it out unstamped, and the subscribers would not take it 
stamped. The various officers of the law courts all declined 
to risk their positions by defying the Act, and Skinner ad- 
journed the courts from month to month, awaiting further 
instructions. At last Governor Bull was (as told in 
General Pinckney's letter) prevailed upon to appoint 
Rawlins Lowndes, Benjamin Smith, and Daniel D'Oyley 
associate judges, and they, overruling the chief justice 
and the Attorney-general, Sir Egerton Leigh, after much 
delay and many technical difficulties opened the Court on 
the 4th of March, 1776. The preliminaries of a case were 
then heard, in which Mr. Bee, Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Mani- 
gault, Mr. Parsons, and Mr. Charles Pinckney were all 
concerned. This day may really be considered the begin- 
ning of the Revolution in Charles Town, for it was the 
first on which orderly and serious opposition was made to 
an undoubted Act of the British Parliament. The three 
new judges were laymen, as was also Mr. Robert Pringle, 
who was on the bench already but had not appeared. 
Smith, Pringle, and D'Oyley were merchants. Rawlins 
Lowndes was a planter, but had been for many years pro- 
vost marshal of the Province, and had much knowledge 
of the law. The others were, of course, all barristers. 
Mr. Bee and Mr. Parsons had long been members of the 
Assembly; Mr. Rutledge has been mentioned already ; 
Mr. Charles Pinckney was the nephew of Chief Justice 
Pinckney, and like his sons had been educated in England ; 



THE STAMP ACT 161 

Mr. Manigault was the son of the wealthiest man in the 
colony, the merchant Gabriel Manigault, son of the Judith 
already spoken of. He (Peter Manigault) had been for a 
long time in England, and admitted to the Bar there, and 
was considered a youth of great promise. Mrs. Pinckney 
writes of him that " he is to make glad his Mamma's heart 
by returning to her. ... I dare assert not only from 
mine but from better judgments he will make her amends 
for all her cares, and answer all her hopes." This predic- 
tion was truer than such predictions often are. The young 
man rose rapidly in the esteem of his countrymen, and 
was at this time Speaker of the Assembly, a position al- 
ways considered a most honourable one in the colony. 
Egerton Leigh, attorney-general, and Dougal Campbell, 
clerk of the Court, were with Skinner the officers opposed 
to the new judges and the lawyers. Campbell did hon- 
estly what he conceived that his official duty required of 
him, and Leigh also offered opposition. But Leigh, the son 
of the man who had for a bribe falsified the returns of the 
election for Westminster, although a " man of parts," was 
so venal that he commanded no respect. It was told of 
him that on one occasion a suitor had said despondently to 
his lawyer, that he knew he had no chance of success be- 
cause his opponent had given Mr. Leigh twenty pounds. 
"Run," cried his attorney, "run and give him thirty, he 
will at once decide for you." Such were the men sent by 
Great Britain to maintain the law in her colonies. 

Governor Bull had still to be reckoned with, and he 
supported the officers with all his authority. The lawyers 
appealed to the Assembly and the Assembly supported 
them ; there was every sign of an endless conflict— the only 
hope of solution being "at home." In the meanwhile the 
delegates, Thomas Lynch, Christopher Gadsden, and John 
Rutledge, sent by the Assembly to the Congress which 
Massachusetts had called to meet in New York, had come 



162 CHARLESTON 

home ; having, Mr. Bancroft says, taken an important and 
leading part in the deliberations ; "in whatever was done 
well, her" (South Carolina's) "mind visibly appeared." 

The Assembly at home agreed with and adopted the 
actions of the Congress, all couched in the firmest language 
of opposition and the most fervent protestations of loyalty. 
Gadsden did not approve this, he was already a repub- 
lican; nor did William Wragg, the same who as a little 
boy had so narrowly escaped the clutches of the pirate 
Blackbeard. He said that it all meant rebellion, and posi- 
tively refused to vote for the petition of the Assembly 
which, suitably engrossed, was sent home by Mr. Speaker 
Manigault by a fast-sailing ship. 

Joy came with the repeal of the obnoxious act in May 
1766. The bells which had tolled now rang a joyous peal. 
Houses were illuminated and bonfires lighted. His Maj- 
esty's birthday a few weeks later was joyously and loyally 
celebrated. His Honour gave a grand dinner at which 
Council and Assembly, judges and barristers, officers and 
clergy, all were present and drank loyal toasts with the 
utmost enthusiasm. The Assembly requested its late 
delegates, Messrs. Lynch, Gadsden, and Rutledge, to sit for 
their portraits. They were to be full length and were to 
be forever preserved in the Assembly Hall, as a memorial 
of their great services which had aided in bringing about 
this happy result. Enthusiasm rose to its highest point, 
however, when Rawlins Lowndes offered the resolution 
that a marble statue of Mr. Pitt should be ordered and 
placed in front of the State House as a memento of the 
gratitude and admiration of the people of Charles Town 
for his late conduct. William Wragg struck a discordant 
note by offering an amendment substituting the name of 
" His Majesty George the 3rd." for that of Mr. Pitt. No 
one seconded the amendment, and it fell flat. To drink 
the King's health was one thing, to erect a statue was 



THE STAMP ACT 163 

quite another. The address of thanks, however, was warm 
and earnest and all that a Sovereign could desire. Mr. 
Manigault forwarded the " petition " through Mr. Garth, 
the agent of the colony in London; dating it on the day 
ten years before the final act of separation was done. 

One man did not rejoice. 

Christopher Gadsden was even then a genuine republican, 
believing in and desiring the sovereignty of the people : 
a doctrine to which the other Charlestonians had by no 
means come. 

His following consisted of the mechanics of the town, 
some of whom were men of intelligence and character, but 
naturally not averse to the new doctrine of equality, 
preached as it was by a man of good birth, and education, 
an ex-naval officer, and now a wealthy merchant. In 
Johnson's " Traditions of the Revolution " the author, 
himself the son of the chief of this party, a highly intelli- 
gent and respectable blacksmith, gives an interesting ac- 
count of Mr. Gadsden's talks with these artisans, sometimes 
under a great oak on Mr. Mazyck's lands in Hampstead 
(the northeastern portion of the city), sometimes at a 
tavern at the corner of Broad and Church streets, op- 
posite to the present Charleston Library, then the favour- 
ite meeting-place for all sorts of gatherings, familiarly 
called "The Corner. " Mr. Speaker Manigault writes to 
Mr. Gadsden's brother Thomas who was then in London: 

"Charles Town, 14th May, 1766. 
" Dear Sir, — At last the happy news of the repeal of 
the Stamp Act arrived, and all was jollity and mirth. 
Your honest brother was so overcome at hearing it that 
he almost fainted, and the Corner Club having met on the 
occasion were attacked by some rascals and got several 
broken heads, " etc. 

This was, however, the only discordant voice; with all 
others the cry was peace and good-will. 



CHAPTER XI 

GOVERNOR LORD CHARLES MONTAGU. GATHERING OF 
THE STORM 

THERE is something pathetic in reading of the years 
before the Revolution. The cloud had passed from 
the horizon and the world enjoyed itself with no thought 
of the coming storm. The old order had, it seemed, come 
back ; the simple confidence in the life which was theirs ; 
the faith in the Sovereign, in the British Constitution, in 
the safety which the name of Englishman bestowed upon 
them, was once more as it had been, as they hoped it 
would ever be. 

The colony was no longer a handful. There were, 
Henry Laurens told the French Ambassador, sixty thou- 
sand white people and eighty thousand negroes. Other 
estimates made the numbers greater. The larger number 
of negroes made some persons uneasy. Mr. Timothy 
wrote of it constantly in his Gazette, but the trade was 
not to be interfered with, and the many servants made 
domestic life easy. 

The new Governor and his bride, Lord and Lady 
Charles Greville Montagu, a gay young couple, arrived, and 
were received with equal ceremony and greater enthusiasm 
than had been the share of Governor Glenn. Lady Charles 
was the first " Governor's Lady " since Johnson's time, 
and her coming meant much to society. She was lively 
and affable, loved a ball or a race meeting, and soon 
became friendly with the colonial ladies. There are fre- 

164 



GOVERN OB LORD CHARLES MONTAGU 165 

quent mentions of her in the letters of the day, notes ex- 
changed with friends, vers de societe (of no great merit), all 
in an easy social style. Lord Charles, a younger son of 
the Duke of Manchester, was only four-and- twenty, and 
was quite willing to take life gayly also. He accepted the 
presidency of the library, went to balls and dinners, and 
gave sl fete to the Indian warriors who had been sent to 
confirm the treaties. 

Travellers who visited the Province then have recorded 
its prosperity. Mr. de Brahm, the surveyor-general, 
speaks of the improvement of the buildings (he had him- 
self directed the new fortifications), the State House, etc., 
and of the number of sects and churches, which, however, 
he says have not " encouraged disorder " because the inhab- 
itants are " renowned for concord, complaisance, courteous- 
ness and tenderness towards each other, and more so 
towards foreigners, without regard or respect of nature or 
religion." De Brahm also says : — 

" The hospitality of this province makes travelling 
through this country agreeable, pleasant and easy ; for 
most of the inhabitants keep a negro at the gate near the 
publick road, to invite to refreshments, dinners, afternoon 
teas, suppers and lodgings. Yea, they will forward them 
with chaises, horses and attendance." 

Says, they will often send a negro if the road be bad, 
to clear the way, row across rivers, guide through forests, 
etc. 

Those were years of planting and building, of buying 
and selling, of marrying and of giving in marriage. Hardly 
an old letter remains which does not mention the wedding 
of some man soon to be engaged in sterner work. The 
Gazettes are full of such notices. Marriages were formal 
affairs then, not to be entered into without consultations 
of parents and guardians, settlements duly drawn, and 
approbation of "the family." The notices are often 



166 CHARLESTON 

quaint and eminently practical. " So-and-so to Miss 

, a most amiable young lady with ten thousand 

pounds to her fortune," was very common. Some are more 
elaborate. 

" Charlestown, Febr. 15. On Thursday last Mr. John 
Garret, an eminent Merchant of this Town was married 
to Mrs. Elisabeth Hill, a young, beautiful and genteel lady, 
with a considerable fortune, eldest daughter of Ch. Hill 
Esq. deceased. A splendid entertainment in the Evening 
was prepared for a large Company, who diverted them- 
selves all Night, and in the morning the hearty Wishes 
of Happiness and Welfare to the new married couple were 
followed by the firing off the Guns of several vessels in 
this Harbour." 

" On Tuesday last an alliance was completed between 
two as respectable families as any in this province by the 

marriage of Esqr. eldest son of the late Hon. 

and Miss daughter of the Hon. 



Sometimes the reporter — or if not reporter, the writer 
— has a more exciting theme, as when he announces the 
marriage of Lord William Campbell, younger son of the 
Duke of Argyle, to " Miss Sarah Izard, daughter of Walter 
Izard, Esqr. an amiable and accomplished young lady, 
esteemed one of the greatest fortunes of this Province." 
The dower in this case was fifty thousand pounds, enough 
in those days to attract any younger son. 

These young people needed houses, and many were then 
built or improved. Mr. Henry Middleton, who in addi- 
tion to his paternal estates had acquired Middleton Place 
by his marriage with Miss Williams, gave it, embellished 
by the terraces and gardens which he had himself made, 
to his son Arthur upon his marriage with Miss Polly Izard, 
sister of Lady William. A newcomer to the river was 
Mr. (soon to be Commodore) Gillon, a Hollander, be- 



GOVERNOR LORD CHARLES MONTAGU 



167 



longing to an old Dutch family of sailors and merchants. 
On his voyage to this country he had met the charming 













^ZTpf^~: «<^$^y- ■y&>r.f-;j;.i)j *%';-!-•/ 



T?^r^V^^*^^.^ 




v 



ffifo^'t&y*, .fealty. > 
The Rhett House, Hasel Street 
One of the First built outside the City Walls. 

widow Cripps, who, having been in Europe for the educa- 
tion of her only son, was returning to Charles Town. 
The voyages of those days gave ample time (if time be 



168 CHARLESTON 

needed) for falling in love, and before they reached port 
the widow had consented to become his wife. They 
bought the place of Ashley Hill, which they renamed 
Batavia, adjoining Middleton Place, built a fine house, 
all the material of which, even the gravel for the ter- 
races, was said to have been brought from Holland, and 
lived in great style and gayety until the war began, when 
he became one of the most energetic servants of his 
adopted country. 

There were young wives too at the Drayton places, for 
Charles, the heir of Magnolia, and William Henry of 
Drayton Hall, who had been sent as little lads to England 
with the Pinckneys, had come home now, and married, 
one a daughter of Mr. Henry Middleton, and the other 
Miss Golightly, daughter of Culcheth Golightly, one of 
the wealthiest men of the Province-. Her sister " Polly " 
had made not long before one of the runaway matches that 
sometimes broke the stated order of things. For choosing 
to marry Mr. Benjamin Huger, a gallant gentleman, but 
of no great fortune, and consent refused, she, at a ball one 
night, caught up a hat lying near, stepped through a win- 
dow into the garden, and ran off with the " man of her 
heart." There is a lovely picture of her with the hat — 
her trousseau — hanging on her arm ; another, Chapeau de 
paille. 

This was a runaway match, but no mesalliance. Such 
occurred sometimes and were looked upon with horror. 
One of the darkest stories of the colony is attached to an 
old ivy-covered ruin of a fine house on one of the adjacent 
sea islands. Here a young lady, daughter of one of the 
best families of the Province (now extinct), so forgot her 
station as to wed her mother's coachman ! The secret 
was kept for some time, and when discovered, an old ser- 
vant of the house, furious at the insult to his dead master, 
stabbed the coachman husband to death. The poor girl 



GOVERNOR LORD CHARLES MONTAGU 169 

(said to have been weak-minded) and her baby (of course 
there was a baby) survived, sinking to a lower class of 
society. 

At Ashley Hall were no weddings, for Lieutenant-gov- 
ernor Bull, who had married years before the daughter of 
that bold navigator Othniel Beale, was a childless man. 
But he did not neglect to embellish this, his hereditary 
seat, having parks and gardens and a lake with a mound 
in the centre whereon was a statue of Diana. 

The Reverend Josiah Smith, grandson of the Landgrave, 
the same who had long since supported Whitfield against 
Commissary Garden, still occupied the old house at Goose 
Creek, now the home of four generations. One of the 
quaintest ghost stories on record is of this house (said to be 
the oldest in the Province), destroyed by the earthquake of 
1886, whence there was a secret passage leading to a grave- 
yard near by, and opening into an apparent vault covered 
by a properly graven tombstone and thence to the bank 
of the creek. The story is that the house being then in- 
habited by the family of the second Landgrave, an English 
lady, Mrs. Latham, was employed as governess to the 
children. One Sunday, Mrs. Latham sat reading in her 
room upstairs, not Baxter's "Saint's Rest" or the " Sinner's 
Way to Repentance," as might reasonably have been ex- 
pected, but a romance, the "Turkish Spy." She was not 
too absorbed in her book, however, to hear a slight, very 
slight sound, at the open door, and looking up, she saw a 
gentle, sweet-faced old lady, dressed in the quiet style of 
that household, looking sadly at her. 

Rather surprised, but supposing it to be an intimate 
visitor, she politely invited the lady to enter. There was no 
answer, and the guest continued to look at her sadly and 
shake her head as if in negation. Mrs. Latham then rose 
and went toward her ; but as she approached, the visitor 
noiselessly withdrew, and had disappeared by the time 



170 CHARLESTON 

that she reached the door. At dinner-time the English 
woman went down expecting to see her mute visitor, but 
she was not at table, and when she asked, was assured that 
no one had been there. She persisted and described 
minutely the person of the old lady. At that moment a 
young brother of her employer, whom she had not yet seen, 
came in, and Mrs. Latham exclaimed, " There, there is the 
image of the old lady, as like as a young man can be to 
an old woman." The family then told her that it was 
the spirit of their late mother, nee Mary Hyrne, the widow 
of the second Landgrave; and that she sometimes appeared 
to them; her son Benjamin, the youth mentioned, being 
extremely like her. Mrs. Latham naturally was very much 
disturbed and wished to leave the house, dreading particu- 
larly the sad and disapproving looks of her visitor. Mr. 
Smith, however, succeeded in convincing her that his 
mother's gentle shade had come, not in anger, but in sor- 
row, that she should read so vain and worldly a work as 
the " Turkish Spy " on the Sabbath. Day ; and that only 
her good was sought by the ghostly monitor. Mrs. 
Latham took courage, remained, and " became truly pious" 
under the influence of the most puritanic ghost on record. 
It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that the 
Smiths were the head of the Puritan party in the Province. 
The many fires which have devastated Charleston have 
destroyed most of the houses which belonged to the noted 
men of that time; but some few remain. Miles Brewton, 
a wealthy merchant, had married Miss Izard and built on 
King Street the handsome home now known as " the Pringle 
house," already mentioned. Many historic associations 
now gather around it. On Meeting Street Mrs. Brewton's 
sister, Mrs. Daniel Blake of Newington, owned the house 
now occupied by William E. Huger, Esq., which was also 
to become famous. Just opposite to it was the house 
of Governor Bull, which looks curiously like the half of 



GOVERNOR LORD CHARLES MONTAGU 



171 




The William Huger House, Meeting Stkeet 

Ashley Hall. It was probably only one of his residences, 
for he is frequently mentioned as living on Broad Street. 
Judge Pringle's brick house in Tradd Street has been 
already mentioned as one of the first built after the great 



172 CHARLESTON 

fire of 1740; Mr. John Rutledge had the house (now much 
altered) in Broad Street, opposite Orange, now owned by 
R. G. Rhett, Esq. ; and in Church Street, just north of the 
Baptist Church, is that in which Jacob Motte and his wife 
Rebecca, sister of Miles Brewton, then lived. At the cor- 
ner of Tradd and Friend streets lived Mr. George Roupell, 
the postmaster, and at the other end of the square was 
John Stuart, the Indian agent, married to Miss Fenwicke, 
and at that time a most highly esteemed and admired per- 
son. Both of these "stood for the King" in the coming 
struggle, and the square used to be shown to children 
sixty years ago as "Tory row." 

Mrs. Pinckney's eldest son came home about this time, 
having gone through Westminster and Oxford and be- 
come a "barrister of the Temple." He had been, while 
at college, greatly incensed at the Stamp Act, and his pic- 
ture, still in the possession of the descendants of his friend, 
Sir Mathew Ridley, shows him declaiming violently against 
it. He, it may be supposed, was " ripe for rebellion," but 
at present his thoughts were of other things, for he was 
shortly after married to Miss Middleton, daughter of Mr. 
Henry Middleton. His chief plantation was far to the south, 
Pinckney Island in Port Royal entrance; his mother hav- 
ing " Belmont," the home place, from which most of her 
letters are written, for her life. The young people, however, 
established themselves in the house, on the Bay, so long 
known as the " Governor's Mansion " (to the inconven- 
ience, it seems, of Lord Charles Montagu, who was absent 
at the time) and had for neighbours Mr. Laurens, Mr. Gads- 
den, and Mr. Thomas Lynch, all living upon the Bay 
above St. Philip's Church, in what was then called An- 
sonborough, extending from just above the church to 
Mazyckboro on the north. The land had been won, it was 
said, by the admiral and circumnavigator Lord Anson at 
a game of cards, he having paid frequent visits to Charles 




The Statue of Pitt 



GOVERNOR LORD CHARLES MONTAGU 173 

Town while stationed upon the coast. Anson Street still 
marks the locality. Of these Mr. Laurens's house alone 
remains. Mr. Lynch's was said to have been of black 
cypress cut upon his own plantation on Santee and built 
by his own carpenters. So close were the habitations of 
the men who were soon, as one of them expressed it, to be 
" all in the same boat, which must not sink." 

When the statue of Mr. Pitt arrived in May, 1770, it 
was received with wild enthusiasm. The vessels in port 
"dressed" for the occasion, the balls rang out a joyous peal, 
but were stopped on account of the illness of Mr. Isaac 
Mazyck, who was lying desperately ill near the church. 
The people of all ranks and station flocked to the wharf 
and drew it by hand, with loud applause, to the Town Hall, 
where it was to remain until its pedestal should be pre- 
pared. In July it was raised to the place which it long 
held in the centre of the crossing of Broad and Meeting 
streets, amid deafening cheers, ringing of bells, waving of 
flags, and other demonstrations of joy. Mr. Speaker Mani- 
gault read the inscription aloud to the people. Lord 
Chatham's health was drunk, and the artillery from Gran- 
ville Bastion saluted the defender of liberty. 

Happy it is for the sons of men that the prophetic vision 
is not theirs, and that none foresaw the dramatic scene 
when Chatham, magnificent in flannels, was taken dying 
from the House of Peers, after spending his last breath in 
protesting against the dismemberment of the Empire. 
Even so he had done great good. He had taught the 
Americans to know their rights, and when once known, 
they could defend them alone. 

The statue, classically draped, represents Mr. Pitt in 
the attitude of vehement speech — too vehement for the 
repose of art, but probably entirely suited to the feelings 
of those to whom it came. It had, when erected, St. 
Michael's, the State House, and the "old beef market," 



174 



CHARLESTON 



where the City Hall now stands, to the north, east, and 
south of it. It has shared the fortunes of the town, for in 
the siege of 1780, the right arm was carried off by a can- 




"V^LoA^ft, \W.(^>iv. 



St. Michael's Churchyard 



non shot. Some time after the Revolution, when the 
enthusiasm for Mr. Pitt had subsided, it was found (very 
justly) to interfere with the traffic of that crowded thor- 
oughfare, and it was removed and stored. Later on it was 
again placed upon its pedestal and set up in the Orphan 
House grounds (where it was generally supposed by the 
children to represent General Washington, as one of them 



GOVERNOR LORD CHARLES MONTAGU 175 

said " just getting out of bed "), and during the confederate 
war it lost its head — which, however, was merely cracked 
off, not broken. 

This interesting monument was, about eighteen years 
ago, rescued from its obscure situation, repaired, and placed 
in the centre of Marion Square, east of the City Hall, not 
more than a hundred yards from its original position. The 
arm, however, has never been restored. .sss 

The young men still in England were evidently not so 
entirely reassured by the repeal of the Stamp Act as were 
their friends at home, as is shown by a very remark- 
able letter printed in a Year Book of Charleston, from 
Thomas Heyward, then a youth of nineteen studying at 
the Temple. He gives his father a close and accurate 
account of the debates in Parliament which he had at- 
tended, and clearly expresses his apprehensions. He was 
to sign the Declaration of Independence. For the same 
reason Thomas Pinckney and James Ladson studied drill- 
ing and military tactics. 

Four years later, when the Boston Port Bill aroused the 
indignation of all the colonies and thirty Americans in 
England petitioned against it, fifteen were Carolinians. 

This is, however, advancing matters, for the Boston 
Port Bill was not yet, although affairs in the Northern 
colonies were by no means as serene as for those few 
years they were in the South, where the circular letters 
of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts and of 
the House of Burgesses of Virginia alone kept alive the 
irritation which might otherwise have passed away. From 
Massachusetts there were " petitions " for non-importation, 
agreements, and other troublous motions ; of all of which 
the Speakers, Mr. Cushing of Boston and Mr. Peyton 
Randolph of Virginia, wrote eloquently to Mr. Manigault, 
who, "by order of the Commons," wrote sympathetic 
answers, all breathing resistance " to tyranny " — and 



176 CHARLESTON 

absolute devotion to his Majesty. Mr. Gadsden and his 
party drank it all in eagerly and the Commons were 
stirred. When it came to a mob of mechanics parading 
the streets with torches and fireworks, huzzaing for 
" Wilkes and liberty and the non-rescinders of Boston " 
and claiming to elect their own representatives to the 
new House, the Governor became alarmed. He addressed 
the Assembly urgently, warning them of the result of 
such proceedings, and hoping that their influence would 
be given against all disloyal and seditious letters and 
papers received by them. The House answered that 
nothing could exceed the devotion and loyalty of his 
Majesty's American subjects, and that no seditious letters 
had ever been received by them ! Lord Charles informed 
them that the circular letter of the Province of Massa- 
chusetts Bay was seditious. The House made no reply, 
but printed the whole correspondence in the Gazette. 
Whereupon the Assembly was promptly dissolved. In 
all of this Lord Charles appears to great advantage ; he 
did his duty, kept his temper, was loyal to his King, and 
wonderfully patient under the diatribes of the Commons. 
He had suffered much from the climate, and went for a 
visit to England, followed by the friendship of many, and 
the esteem of all the people. 

Before his return things were yet worse. The rage of 
"non-importation" had seized the town and made much 
dissension — mechanics and merchants being at daggers 
drawn. The " ministerial measure " of quartering troops, 
not intended for their defence, upon the inhabitants had 
been violently resisted, and had been defeated by a large 
majority in Parliament. 

The troops had consequently been withdrawn. The 
questions of taxation were again arising, and on the Gov- 
ernor's return, although Lady Charles and himself were 
greeted with the utmost warmth, it soon became evident 



GOVERNOR LORD CHARLES MONTAGU 177 

that he had learned in England what to expect and what to 
do. Instead of his former pleasant and cordial ways he 
seemed on his return harassed and irritable, declared that 
he could find no fit house in Charles Town, and took up 
his lodging across the harbour at Fort Johnson on James 
Island, where he announced he thought of building "a 
castle," for the gubernatorial residence. 

And so the quarrel went on ; the Assembly protesting 
against the "Acts," and the Ministers, who deluded his 
most Excellent Majesty, and the Governor striving to 
manage the Assembly. He addressed, argued, prorogued, 
dissolved. The new elections returned much the same 
members, and the members elected the same Speaker. 
They continued to pass resolutions, etc. (which seemed 
from his point of view monstrous), and boldly proclaimed 
them legal. In short, the Rebellion had (civilly) imper- 
ceptibly begun. The harassed young man bethought 
himself that to change the meeting-place of his unman- 
ageable legislature might do some good, and in that hope 
informed them that "it would be for his Majesty's ser- 
vice " that they should assemble at the town of Beaufort 
in Port Royal entrance. His idea probably was that 
there would be a smaller attendance and greater docility. 

Indefatigably, Mr. Speaker and all but five of the mem- 
bers journeyed over abominable roads and watercourses 
innumerable for seventy-five miles, and were in their seats 
to greet his Excellency at the appointed hour. Nor had 
the soft skies of that softest of climes changed the spirit 
of these obstinate Commons; stiff-necked they had been, 
and stiff-necked they remained. Lord Charles in three 
days ordered them all back to their old capital, having 
received no advantage and much ridicule from the absurd 
attempt. 

Peter Manigault now resigned the speakership. His 
health was failing fast, and he sailed for England in the 



178 CHARLESTON 

hope of recovering it, but died in a few weeks, to the great 
loss of his country. He had been a member of the Com- 
mons House since his twenty-third year, being returned 
at each election for eighteen years. 

Lord Charles gained nothing by exchanging the cour- 
teous though firm Mr. Manigault for the rugged strength 
of Rawlins Lowndes — who was chosen to succeed him 
as Speaker. Mr. Lowndes was at this time (1773) over 
fifty years old, and thus much the senior of most of his 
associates in the Revolutionary contest. 

He had made his own in the colony, having come to 
it as a boy from his birthplace in the Island of St. Chris- 
topher (known as St. Kitt's) in the West Indies. Some 
family influence " at Home " had procured for him the 
important office of provost marshal, upon which he had 
entered as soon as of sufficient age. He had there gained 
much knowledge of the law and of affairs, and was now a 
man of property, influence, and acknowledged ability. 
He was of a sturdy, conservative spirit, most reluctant to 
push things to extremes, but never willing to yield an 
inch to the undue assumption of power either by "the 
Ministers" or by his countrymen. Thus as associate 
justice he had pronounced the first decision against 
the Stamp Act, and so he was vehemently opposed to the 
tyranny of the association which tried to terrorize the 
people into signing the non-importation agreement. Nat- 
urally he was always in direct opposition to Christopher 
Gadsden, who would adopt any means to gain his point. 
Constantly fighting, they yet had so great a regard for 
each other, that late in life Mr. Lowndes named one of 
his younger children for Mr. Gadsden and Mr. Gadsden 
made Mr. Lowndes one of the executors of his will. 

Hardly had he been installed in office when a dispute 
arose with Lord Charles about the custody of the Com- 
mons Journal, in which he stated with great force the 



GOVEBNOR LORD CHARLES MONTAGU 179 

rights of the House, the limitations of the Governor, 
and his own responsibility. The Governor tried yet again 
the remedy of dissolution. And again the electors re- 
turned the same members, and the members chose the same 
Speaker. His Excellency was weary of the fight; he 
could do nothing with this "too numerous democracy." 
Individually and socially he remained to the last a favour- 
ite, but politically he was a failure, as any man in his po- 
sition would then have been. He resigned his office and 
returned home. 

Always courteous and pleasant to his friends he went 
the night before his expected departure to a St. Cecilia 
concert to take leave of them. The Journal of Josiah 
Quincy's visit to Charles Town mentions his presence there. 

Mr. Quincy had come from Boston "for his health," 
but evidently he was anxious to ascertain if the temper 
of this really loyal people was beginning to fail under re- 
peated trials, and how far they were ready to support the 
advanced propositions of Massachusetts. He was a close 
observer and his Journal is most interesting. 

He tells of his amazement at the appearance of the har- 
bour, crowded with ships more than any other in America ; 
of the town, and especially of the fine new Exchange just 
completed, viewed from the water (we call it the old 
post office now); of his visit to Charles Town Library, 
" a handsome, square, spacious room, containing a very 
valuable collection of books, prints, globes, etc." The 
Library was housed for over twenty years in rooms lent 
to it by Mr. Gabriel Manigault, free of rent, he being for 
much of that time the vice-president, — the Governor 
generally graciously accepting the office of president. 
Only Governor Boone was not requested to accept it, 
neither his politics nor his morals being approved by the 
community. On every occasion for generous aid one 
could count upon Mr. Manigault. 



180 CHARLESTON 

Mr. Quincy describes the houses and the people — tells 
how he went to a dancing assembly where the music was 
bad and the dancing good, and to a St. Cecilia concert of 
which he says that it was held in a large and inelegant 
building withdrawn from the street. Mr. David Deas 
had, he says, " given him a ticket, on presenting which he 
was passed from servant to servant and finally ushered 
in. The music was grand, especially the bass viol and 
French horns." The first violinist, a Frenchman, played 
the best solo he had ever heard. His salary was five 
hundred guineas. Most of the performers were gentle- 
men amateurs. He comments on the richness of dress of 
both ladies and gentlemen; says that there were two hun- 
dred and fifty ladies present and it was called no great 
number. The ladies are " in taciturnity during the per- 
formance greatly before our ladies; in noise and flirta- 
tion after the music is over, pretty much on a par. , If 
our " (Boston) " ladies have any advantage, it is in white 
and red, vivacity and spirit. The gentlemen many of 
them dressed with elegance and richness uncommon with 
us. Many with swords on." 

Lord Charles Greville Montagu, the Governor, who was 
to sail the next day for England, had come to take fare- 
well of his friends, of whom he had many. Mr. Quincy was 
presented to his Excellency, to the chief justice, etc. 

He tells also of a dinner at Miles Brewton's " with a 
large company, — a most superb house said to have cost 
him .£8000 sterling." A handsome bird, probably a ma- 
caw, was in the room during dinner. How handsome 
and luxurious it all was! The gentlemen held the place- 
men in contempt. They said, " We none of us can expect 
the honours of the State; they are all given away to 
worthless poor sycophants." When politics were talked 
at dinner, one gentleman, " a hot flaming, sensible Tory," 
expressed utter distrust of all the Northern states except 



■h^*3s$& 




M^^;l^^<5X#J2^ - 



St. Michael's Alley 
181 



182 CHARLESTON 

Virginia — and especially of Massachusetts, and declared 
that if ever they renounced the sovereignty of the King, 
they would have governors sent them from Massachusetts, 
— a prophecy which it took eighty-four years to fulfil. 
Mr. Quincy went to the races too. " Spent this day, 
March 3rd, in viewing horses, riding over the town, and 
receiving complimentary visits." On March 13 he goes 
to the races and sees " Flimnap " beat " Little David," 
who had been the winner in sixteen races. Many are the 
stories of the deeds of Flimnap the great. On this occa- 
sion he ran the first four-mile heat in eight minutes and 
seventeen seconds ; and two thousand pounds were lost and 
won on this race. And, says the New England gentle- 
man, " At the races I saw a fine collection of excellent, 
though very high priced horses and was let a little into 
the singular art and mystery of the turf." 

He tells it all with a curious separateness, a sense of 
difference, as of looking at a strange people whose 
traditions and ways were not his — which was absolutely 
true. 

When politics run so high, they inevitably affect social 
relations. A sad instance of this had already occurred. 

Mr. Ralph Izard of "the Elms," Goose creek, had married 
Miss Delancey of a very distinguished Huguenot family of 
New York. A lovely and graceful woman as her picture 
by Copley testifies. In 1766, while the Stamp Act agita- 
tion was yet unlaid, her brother came to make them a visit. 
Miss Pinckney writes to her friend Miss Becky Izard — 
afterward the wife of Colonel Colin Campbell of the Brit- 
ish Army: "We are much obliged for the smart man you 
have sent us, Mr. Delancey; he is thought handsome here 
and chose out Miss Golightly (before he saw her) for his 
flame." The poor fellow was handsome and gay, but he 
was an ardent loyalist, and unfortunately became in- 
volved in a political dispute with a Dr. Haley, " a man of 



GATHERING OF THE STORM 183 

education and influence, patronized by the leaders of the 
Revolutionary party," and an ardent patriot. They were 
(Johnson's "Traditions" says) at "a genteel house of enter- 
tainment " (probably the South Carolina Coffee House) 
"in St. Michael's Alley." 

The debate soon became angry and passions rose. De- 
lancey gave Haley the lie. Haley instantly challenged 
him to fight now with pistols in an upstairs room, by 
themselves. 

There can have been none but waiters present, for, such 
a duel would never have been allowed. Delancey ac- 
cepted the terms ; they fired both at the same moment, 
across a table, and Delancey fell dead. 

The scandal was horrible. Haley, accused of murder 
by the Tories, was defended by the Whigs. It became a 
party question. 

The unfortunate man despaired of his escape. To save 
him from mob violence he was concealed in a dark garret, 
naturally trying to the nerves. In the darkness he stum- 
bled against a rope stretched across a corner. His in- 
flamed imagination made him accept it as a presage. 
Hanging would certainly be his fate ! Not without trouble 
was he saved. 

The absence of witnesses made the trial one for murder. 
The best youthful talent at the Bar defended him : Thomas 
Hey ward, C. C. Pinckney, and the Rutledges — all fresh 
from Europe. 

They proved that Delancey had given the offence, had 
accepted the terms, and (the most effective argument) 
that he had fired both barrels of his pistol — the balls 
being found embedded in the wall in front of which Haley 
had stood, on each side of where his head had been. 
Haley's acquittal was looked upon as a triumph for the 
Whigs and as equally a mortification to the Tories. The 
Izards went abroad, where they remained for some years. 



184 CHARLESTON 

The people hoped, one does not quite see with what 
reason, that their long-tried and trusted lieutenant-gov- 
ernor would be advanced to the higher dignity, but this 
was not to be. Dr. Ramsay and other historians have 
thought that had he received full power he might have 
kept the Province for the King. It seems hardly possible. 
When the stream comes down in flood, no one boulder can 
do more than retard its rush. 

It is quite unnecessary to describe or even to enumerate 
all the various acts, bills, etc., which finally precipitated 
the Revolution. The proceedings of the patriotic party 
are, to look back at (be it spoken with all due respect), 
amusing! They deluded themselves so completely as to 
where they were going, and used the words " law " and 
" British Constitution " with such faith! 

The people of Charles Town must have enjoyed an un- 
usual intellectual pleasure at this time : that of having the 
greatest and most exciting questions constantly debated 
by the best speakers of the country, without any sense of 
impending disaster to chill their interest. 

The question of the tea, for instance. The last Congress 
had said that the tea should not be imported — and here 
were chests upon chests arriving by every ship. Even 
Captain Carling — with whom almost every man had gone 
passenger to Europe and of whom every passenger was the 
friend for life — was bringing it in ! 

Should it be sent back or thrown overboard ? What 
would his Honour do? His Honour, his sole desire to 
prevent precipitate action, and, as he believed, the ruin of 
his countrymen, allowed the collector to store it quietly 
in the vaults under the Exchange, and let the question of 
duties rest for the time. 

Then came the letter from Boston announcing the fa- 
mous " Port Bill," and asking all the other Provinces to 
put themselves in the same position and agree to import 



GATHERING OF THE STORM 185 

nothing while her port remained closed. The response 
given to this proposal was really wonderful. 

In a pecuniary point of view Carolina had now nothing 
to complain of. Why should she cast in her lot with an 
almost unknown state, and resign all the advantages that 
the mother country gave? 

Principle alone called, and principle carried the day. 
The latest — and greatest — historian of South Carolina, 
Mr. Edward McCrady, says of the Province: " She at least 
was suffering from no material oppression, what part she 
took thereafter was in the interest of the commerce and 
waterfalls of New England and not in her own. She at 
least was to contend only for abstract truth and abstract 
liberty." 

The response was quick and clear. A public meeting, 
held as usual at "the corner" of Broad and Church 
streets, decided at once "to assist their sister colonies 
in the dangers impending over American liberties/' Their 
assistance was practical, for in an incredibly short time they 
collected and sent on a subscription of thirty-three hun- 
dred pounds in money, and eighty tierces of rice " for the 
suffering poor of the blockaded Port." Also they called 
another meeting, which decided to order a general election 
for five deputies to another Congress, and a committee 
which should manage things at home. The election of the 
delegates was a lesson in party machinery. Two men were 
acceptable to all: Mr. Henry Middleton, who had re- 
signed his seat in the Governor's Council, and Mr. John 
Rutledge ; but the merchants who were opposed to the 
non-importation plan wished the other three to be Raw- 
lins Lowndes, Miles Brewton, and Charles Pinckney, — 
all men past their youth, and belonging to the conserva- 
tive party. 

The mechanics, on their part, wanted their great leader, 
Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch, and Edward Rut- 



186 



CHARLESTON 




"The Corner," Broad and Church Streets 
Centre of the old walled town. 

ledge. Thomas Lynch had been very earnest for non- 
importation when it had been tried before, having, Gov- 
ernor Bull wrote to Lord. Hillsborough, " travelled fifty 



GATHERING OF THE STORM 187 

miles to cast his vote lest the merchants should sell the 
liberty of his dear country like any other goods." And 
Edward Rutledge, as advocate, had, with Rawlins 
Lowndes, as judge, but lately defied the power of the 
Council and liberated a prisoner whom it had ordered 
confined. He was understood to be more inclined to 
the popular party than his brother John. 

The merchants foolishly made a show of numbers, going 
to the polls in a body, with their clerks and dependants ; 
which, of course, roused the attention of the mechanics. 
They ran everywhere, calling out their friends, and easily 
turned the tide, winning the day by a majority (thought 
very large) of three hundred and ninety-seven. 

In the convention a question of great importance had 
been raised by Rawlins Lowndes. The account of all 
their proceedings is given in a very animated way by 
Governor John Drayton, son of William Henry; his ma- 
terials being taken from his father's voluminous manu- 
scripts. In his " Memoirs of the American Revolution " 
he says of this that Mr. Rawlins Lowndes, who had been 
Speaker of the House since the resignation of Mr. Mani- 
gault, urged that the delegates should go "with powers 
limited! lest they might be overruled if the more numer- 
ous votes of the Northern colonies, especially of New Eng- 
land, should commit the Province to a denial of the 
superintending power of Parliament, a doctrine which 
they admit and we deny." Governor Drayton says : 
" This sentiment from Mr. Lowndes is here brought into 
view as being from a gentleman of prudence and consider- 
ation, and who at that time declared the prevailing opinion 
of the colony." 

" It will serve as a point in public opinion for tracing 
the rapidity with which in a few months later the colony 
adopted the contrary idea." The sentiment was then so 
strong that the delegates were sent with power to " con- 



188 CHARLESTON 

cert, agree to, and effectually prosecute such legal meas- 
ures as in the opinion of those deputies and of the 
deputies of the other colonies should be most likely to 
obtain a repeal of the late acts of Parliament and a redress 
of American grievances." All as subjects of the King ! 

Governor Drayton might well talk of "rapidity." 
Within a few days a general meeting of the people — 
so general that every man who chose to come might vote 
— chose a " General Committee " of ninety-nine persons, 
on which it (the meeting) bestowed practically unlimited 
powers. This committee was to consist of fifteen mer- 
chants and fifteen mechanics to represent the town, and 
sixty-nine planters for the Parishes. " This proceed- 
ing," Mr. Drayton gently observes, " was rather uncon- 
stitutional ; as the different parishes did not choose the 
sixty-nine planters who were to represent them. They, 
however, acquiesced in the nominations, being sensible it 
proceeded from the best intentions and the urgency of the 
occasion." 

This General Committee appointed sub-committees, one 
of which, the " Committee of Observation," superintended 
the matter of the tea, when that mild herb once more 
roused the indignation of the community. All through 
the summer it had continued to come, and the collector 
had seized and stored it ; every now and then some es- 
pecial disturbance being made. At last the committee 
ordered that a parcel just arrived should not be allowed 
to fall into the collector's hands. The vessel was hauled 
out into the stream, and the consignees themselves, pub- 
licly, in the light of day, with their own hands broke open 
the chests, and, as Mr. Timothy eloquently observed, 
" Made oblation to Neptune," by throwing the contents 
into Hog Island Channel " in the presence of the Com- 
mittee of Observation, and of a crowd of citizens who 
shouted thrice as each package was emptied into the 



GATHERING OF THE STORM 189 

Cooper." Moreover, shortly after several hundred pounds 
of Bohea, which had been smuggled in, was reshipped 
whence it came, by a very characteristic pride, u to show 
that the people did not reject dutied tea, simply to use 
undutied and save the small amount of money." All that 
which had come first still lay in the vaults, and no one 
would yet break open the "King's storehouse." But in 
Juty, 1776, the " President " of South Carolina applied to 
have it sold for the public service, and the Legislature 
(the names had been changed by that time) permitted it 
to be sold in packages "not exceeding twelve pounds." 
Think of how the women blessed the new President and 
the Legislature ! 

Two things are remarkable in these proceedings : how 
much the people accepted the leadership of the gentry, 
and how small was the community. 

The artisans and mechanics were eager and active in 
the cause ; Gadsden having taught and inspired them ; 
and when it came to choosing delegates, actually carried 
the election by force of numbers. But they did not select 
one of their own class, but Gadsden himself, with Rutledge 
and Lynch, whose views they thought akin to his. As to 
the size of the community it is really curious. The same 
names occur over and over again. The members of the 
General Committee are also the members of the Provincial 
Congress, and the Provincial Congress and the General 
Assembly differ only in name. When Governor Bull 
refuses to recognize the former and a day or two later 
receives the latter, there is hardly any change except 
that Mr. President is now Mr. Speaker. And Moultrie 
records that half the delegation to the Congress were 
uniformed as military officers. 

The tangle of relationships which exists in Charleston 
to-day had already begun. With some few exceptions, 
the chief actors in the Revolution belonged to one or two 



190 CHARLESTON 

closely connected groups ; and as it is now said that " Eng- 
land is governed from the country houses," so undoubtedly 
much of the policy was decided in the great houses along 
the rivers. Legend has it that at Middleton Place were 
many gatherings. Mr. Henry Middleton, a stately, courte- 
ous old gentleman, and his wife, Lady Mary, the daughter 
of the Jacobite Earl of Cromartie, with his son Arthur, 
had around them a band of relatives and near friends. 

Both were ardent patriots, — the younger perhaps more 
inclined for decisive measures than any one but Gadsden 
and his most intimate friend, William Henry Drayton. 
Many a fiery eager talk must have been held on the long 
terraces and under the oaks which are noble trees to-day. 
Gillon would come — no kinsman, but nearest neighbour — 
and Richard Bohun Baker from the beautiful seat " Arch- 
dale," just across the river ; and Charles Drayton from 
Magnolia, who was Mr. Middleton's son-in-law. William 
Henry from Drayton Hall was the most brilliant if 
most erratic man of the time. He in the Stamp Act 
troubles had been violent against the colonists, speaking 
and writing eloquently on the side of the ministers. 
Then he had gone to England, been received at Court, 
been petted and feted as the most loyal of subjects, 
and now on his return he, although the Lieutenant- 
governor's nephew, and, with his father, a member of his 
Majesty's Council, had amazed all men by suddenly appear- 
ing as the most vehement partisan among the "patriots." 
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Edward Rutledge were 
sons-in-law of Mr. Middleton also. Rutledge's brother 
John was Mr. Middleton's colleague in the delegation ; and 
C. C. Pinckney's first cousin, Charles Pinckney, was soon 
to be first President of the Provincial Congress. Charles 
Pinckney's brother-in-law, Miles Brewton, was a member 
of the Congress and Council of Safety; and Mrs. Brewton, 
a first cousin of Mrs. Arthur Middleton. Mrs. Middle- 



GATHERING OF THE STORM 191 

ton's brothers and cousins, the Izards, were also patriots, 
and Goose Creek was not far off. 

From the Cooper many of the soldiers were to come. 
Mulberry Castle was the great house there, and William 
Moultrie of Northampton, a connection of the Broughtons 
by his first marriage to Miss St. Julien, was soon to bear 
the chief part in the opening scene of the war. Moultrie 
came of good fighting stock, a descendant of the Multrares, 
lairds of Seafield and Makinch, who had done homage for 
their lands to Edward I. and had fallen and fought 
at Flodden and for Queen Mary. The brothers of his 
second wife were Isaac and Jacob Motte. The former to be 
his second in command at Fort Moultrie, the latter the 
husband of Rebecca Motte, sister of Miles Brewton, one of 
the heroines of the Revolution. Francis Marion, " the 
Swamp Fox," lived near at " Chachan." He and Moultrie 
had been in Thomas Middleton's regiment in Grant's 
campaign. They were now to be again together. The 
neighbours gathered and discussed — some for, some against 
the proposed acts. There was much difference of opinion. 
This was the Huguenot country, and the Huguenots, 
grateful to England for much kindness, were, with some 
distinguished exceptions, slow to join in the quarrel. Not 
until their hero Marion called them did they come in 
force, to be remembered in song and story as " Marion's 
Men." 

There was great difference of opinion everywhere ; it was 
the worst of the trouble. In the last great contest in which 
Carolina staked — and lost — life and fortune, she had 
the happiness of owning the undivided fealty of her sons. 
It was not so in 1776. Mr. McCrady has given a list 
which shows that brother was against brother, and father 
against son, — hardly a household which was not divided. 

This was hardest of all, perhaps, to the stanch old 
Governor himself. Never man had a harder part to play, 



192 



CHARLESTON 



and never man played such a part with more honour and 
credit than Governor Bull. His great-nephew, Governor 
John Drayton, says of him very truly that "his liberal 
education and wide experience had enabled him to under- 
stand and appreciate the claims of his countrymen, while 
he also knew the lawful rights of his King whose commis- 










"" - ~'^?'t'^: r- 




Entrance to Fort Moultrie 



sion he bore, and whose commands he felt in honour 
bound to execute." 

It must have been sad in those days at Ashley Hall — 
and hard for the honest gentleman to differ with his kin- 
dred. He had no son to succeed him, and his brothers 
were against him : Stephen of Sheldon soon to command 
for the Americans. Of all his friends in the Council, — his 
two brothers-in-law, Mr. Middleton and Mr. Drayton ; 
Mr. Bernard Elliott ; his nephew, W. H. Drayton ; and 



GATHERING OF THE STORM 193 

Daniel Blake — the last alone stood by him. The others 
dropped off one by one, and the men who remained were 
venal wretches, like Egerton Leigh whom all despised, or 
mere placemen sent from England to fill their posts. He 
had the steady support of William Wragg, of the Roupells, 
and of many less conspicuous. It would be interesting to 
know what his own opinions really were ; but as stanch 
a King's man as Sir Harry Lee of Ditchley, his Majesty's 
pleasure ruled his actions. He never lost the regard and 
affection of the people. They always loved and honoured 
him. 

There was some jealousy perhaps of this country-house 
influence among the townsfolk who had been the first to 
move. Henry Laurens, who had just come home from 
Europe, brought back by the threatening state of affairs, 
wrote to his son John, then in London, " Soon they " (the 
planters) " will take the reins out of the townsmen's 
hands ; they are the richest and most numerous, and 
every one thinks that he knows enough to govern." 

Mr. Laurens had come home in a very despairing mind. 
He gives an account in one of his letters of having had 
the honour of being consulted by several members of Par- 
liament, and of their ignorance and weakness on American 
affairs. He had given them the best possible advice ; to 
let the colonies tax themselves, and trust to their affection 
for the Crown ; but had made no impression at all. He 
was evidently thereafter hopeless of reconciliation. 

The Continental Congress met. The departure of the 
delegates being a matter of great interest, the Gazette 
says : — 

" Two of our Deputies to the Congress, viz. the Hon. 
Henry Middleton, for many years a Member of Council, 
but who had virtue enough to quit it when he found he 
could no longer be of service to his Country There — and 
Mr. Edward Rutledge, a young gentleman of most prom- 



194 CHARLESTON 

ising talents, bred to the bar and barrister, will embark 
on Saturday next." 

This was the Congress which passed the famous non- 
importation act, which crippled the colonies more than it 
injured England, and gave rise to such inconveniences of 
daily life as Mrs. Pinckney describes when she writes to 
her daughter that " not a bit of Pavillion gauze " (mosquito 
net) u was to be found in Town, and that the most neces- 
sary and ordinary medicines were not to be had." 

A more picturesque effect was produced by the solemn 
compact to import no mourning goods ! No black stuffs 
were at that time made in America, and the result was 
curious. Instead of the long rows of black-clad men and 
women shrouded in "hoods" and "weepers," and the ser- 
vants rejoicing in garments of woe, now there appeared 
relatives, friends, and domestics following the dead in gay 
raiment of every hue. 

The funerals of Mr. Lamboll and Mrs. Prioleau, which 
were the first to take place under these conditions, were 
talked of with mingled pride and chagrin for many a day. 

Before Congress assembled, in the month of August, 
the General Assembly had met, — much to its own sur- 
prise, for it had fully expected to be again prorogued by 
way of silencing inconvenient debate. It had been so dis- 
posed of several times already, but now the day appointed 
had come and no inhibition had been received. 

Bright and early, at eight in the morning instead of at 
eleven, the usual hour, Mr. Speaker Lowndes called the 
House to order, and proceeded to business with great 
rapidity, sending of course in due form to acquaint his 
Honour with the fact that the faithful Commons were 
ready to receive any communications which his Honour 
might see fit to bestow upon them. It may be supposed 
that Messrs. Heyward and Cattell, the messengers, were 
not in overhaste on their errand ; for although they 



GATHERING OF THE STORM 195 

returned with the answer that his Honour was pleased to 
say he would be in the Council Chamber immediately and 
would send a message to the House, there was time to 
transact important business. It was in fact the business 
for which the gentlemen had quitted their beds at that 
ho,ur. Colonel Powell, the chairman of the General Com- 
mittee, laid before the House an account of the proceed- 
ings of the meetings in July last, and of the committee, 
and the appointment of the delegates to the Congress at 
Philadelphia, and prayed for an appropriation of fifteen 
hundred pounds to pay the expenses of the said delegates. 

It did not take the Assembly long to understand the 
report, for most of them were members of the committee, 
and all had helped to elect the delegates; so the report 
was promptly received and the appropriations passed. 
They even had time to talk a little about Indian affairs 
and send a polite communication on that subject to his 
Honour, before the good gentleman could get dressed, 
hurry to the Council Chamber, summon two members of 
his Council to assist in receiving the Commons, and find 
a Master in Chancery (the official medium of communi- 
cation) to summon them. 

When the Master arrived with his summons, "Mr. 
Speaker with the house went to attend the Lt. Governor 
at the Council Chamber, where his honour was pleased to 
prorogue the General Assembly until the 6th of September 
next." 

Governor Drayton tells the story of this trick upon his 
revered uncle, with a chuckle that has come down across 
a century. 

The General Committee decided that it did not consider 
itself a sufficiently " legal " body for its required duties 
and powers, and ordered a general election for a better 
organization. The " legality " is not clearly visible to the 
ordinary observer, but at least the people had the privi- 



196 CHARLESTON 

lege of choosing their own representatives. These when 
elected declared themselves a Provincial Congress, chose 
Colonel Charles Pinckney to be their President, waited on 
his Honour at his residence in Broad Street, and presented 
him with an address. It began : — 

" May it please your Honour, 

" We, his Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects, the Rep- 
resentatives of all the good people of this Colony, now 
met in Provincial Congress," etc., and continued by 
giving the Governor much advice, and particularly that he 
should call the General Assembly together, and only exer- 
cise his " undoubted right of prerogative for the good of 
the people." 

The Lieutenant-governor answered: — 

"Gentlemen: — I know no legal representatives of the 
good people of this Province but the Commons-House 
of Assembly, chosen according to the Election Act, and 
met in General Assembly. As gentlemen of respectable 
characters and property in this province, I acquaint 
you that the General Assembly stands prorogued to the 
24th. instant. I have always endeavoured to make the 
law of the land my rule of government, in the administra- 
tion of public affairs ; and I shall not omit observing it in 
meeting the General Assembly, according to the Proro- 
gation. With whom I shall under the guidance of my 
duty to the King, and zeal for the service of the Province, 
do everything in my power that can contribute to the 
public welfare." 

The Congress withdrew, recommended the inhabitants 
to learn the use of arms and drill once a fortnight, and 
appointed " a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer before 
Almighty God, devoutly to petition Him to inspire the 
King with true wisdom to defend the people of North 
America in their just title to freedom and avert the 
calamities of civil war." The Congress then adjourned, 



GATHERING OF THE STORM 197 

leaving the authority in the hands of the Charles Town 
Committee. 

Before adjourning, however, it appointed by its Presi- 
dent a secret committee, with " authority to procure and 
distribute such articles as the present insecure state of the 
interior parts of this colony renders necessary for the 
better defence and security of the good people of those 
parts, and other necessary purposes." 

" To see that the State take no harm " was hardly more 
enigmatic — or significant ; of course it meant securing 
the means of defence, for, says Drayton, u in those days 
words were used in public resolutions, calculated to bear 
ample constructions for the public service." For this 
committee Colonel Pinckney (President of the Provincial 
Congress) appointed Mr. William Henry Drayton, giving 
him permission to select his associates. Mr. Drayton 
chose Arthur Middleton, C. C. Pinckney, William Gibbes 
(a grandson of the former Governor), and Edward Wey- 
man, a very clever young artisan said to have a " peculiar 
gift for secret and dangerous undertakings "; all of whom 
were confirmed by the President. 

The day of fasting and prayer was very solemn. The 
Commons House went in procession from the State House 
to St. Philip's (about four squares), the Speaker in his 
purple robes and full-bottomed wig, with the silver mace 
borne before him, walking at their head. The members 
were, Moultrie (who was among them) says, "Many of them 
in their military array. On their entering the church the 
organ began a solemn piece of music, and continued play- 
ing until they were seated. It was an affecting scene, as 
every one knew the occasion, and all joined in fervent 
prayer to the Lord to support and defend us in our great 
struggle in the cause of Liberty and our Country." The 
Reverend Dr. Smith, at the request of the Provincial Con- 
gress, delivered an excellent and suitable discourse " on 



198 CHARLESTON 

the occasion which very much animated the men; whilst 
the female part of the congregation were affected in quite 
a different manner; floods of tears rolled down their 
cheeks, from the sad reflection of their nearest and dearest 
friends and relations entering into a dreadful civil war, 
the worst of wars; and what was most to be lamented, it 
could not be avoided." 

The emotional nature of woman expresses itself in 
tears; but it may be doubted if the great majority of the 
women saw the end as clearly as Moultrie did. They 
still hoped — not desperately. Mrs. Pinckney's letter 
on this occasion is quite cheerful, admiring the "good 
patriotic Xtian like sermon," and a few days later she 
says : — 

" The King has promised to receive the petitions . . . 
all the Islands and the London merchants are about to 
petition. . . . Capt. Turner is also arrived and says there 
is a prospect of the Acts being repealed. 

" Pray God it may prove true." 

In a letter published in the same book, " Eliza Pinck- 
ney," a friend of Mrs. Pinckney's, Miss Trapier of George- 
town, writes to her: — 

" I see by these preparations of tents, etc., that our sol- 
diers are making ready for the field. I hope there will be 
little occasion for them. Heaven interests itself in the 
cause of those who have virtue to assist the birthright of 
mankind. Divine Liberty ! and Britain surely will shortly 
be taught by our successes and continued unanimity, in 
spite of all their base acts to disunite us, that America 
determines to be free, and that it is beyond the force of 
arms to enslave so vast a Continent." 

" The blank commissions have come," says another let- 
ter ; but where were the arms and munitions of war? In 
the third story of the State House, and in the powder 
magazines, all under the guard of his Majesty's keepers ! 



GATHERING OF THE STORM 199 

Clearly this was the business of the " Secret Commit- 
tee." Accordingly, at dead of night, the five young fel- 
lows, and two others, Mr. Benjamin Huger, Mr. Drayton's 
brother-in-law, and his cousin William Bull, son of the 
Governor's brother Stephen, having posted sentries and 
engaged the assistance of some labourers, proceeded to 
break open the door of the King's armoury. Whereupon 
there appeared upon the scene, Colonel Pinckney, the Presi- 
dent of Congress, the Hon. Henry Laurens, chairman of 
the General Committee, and Mr. Thomas Lynch, delegate 
to the Continental Congress. 

It was certainly an open secret. The elder gentlemen 
of course came because they did not choose to leave the 
younger ones to bear the blame of an act of violence which 
they themselves had tacitly authorized. 

Before daylight they had removed a quantity of mus- 
kets, cutlasses, cartouches, belts, etc., and had stored them 
in the cellars of two houses near the State House, belong- 
ing to William Gibbes. At the same time other parties 
under Christopher Gadsden carried off all the powder in 
the magazines out of town, and secured that also. This 
was done without any disguises, but under cover of dark- 
ness, in order to avoid " insulting the authority of the Lt. 
Governor, who was so much respected and beloved, by 
performing it in open day" — a most peculiar piece of 
delicacy ! 

The poor Governor ! His only possible proceeding was 
to lay the matter before his sadly reduced council. That 
body advised him to send " a mild message to the Com- 
mons House then sitting, informing them of what had 
been done." His Honour, of course, knew perfectly that 
members of the Commons themselves had done the deed, 
but he sent the information with due formality, and com- 
mended the matter to " the serious investigation and con- 
sideration of the General Assembly." The House, fully 



200 CHARLESTON 

prepared for the little comedy which was the prelude to 
so serious a drama, appointed a committee of investigation : 
Mr. Bee, a lawyer, soon to be a judge, Dr. Olyphant, an 
eminent physician, Colonel Gaillard and Mr. Izard, plant- 
ers. They reported to the House that having made 
all possible inquiry, they had been unable to get any in- 
formation relative to the removal of the arms and gun- 
powder mentioned in his Honour's message, but " think 
there is reason to suppose that some of the inhabitants of 
this colony may have been induced to take so uncommon 
and extraordinary a step, in consequence of the late alarm- 
ing reports received from Great Britain," which commu- 
nication Mr. Speaker forwarded to his Honour with a 
copy of said reports. These were that Parliament had 
refused to receive the petitions, had declared Massachu- 
setts in a state of rebellion, and forbade commercial inter- 
course with the other colonies. Receiving no help from 
the Commons, the Governor himself examined Mrs. Pratt, 
the keeper of the State House. But although Mrs. Pratt 
(who deserves immortality) had seen and heard the whole 
affair, she had understood nothing ! Not a word of use- 
ful information could his Honour get from Mrs. Pratt. 
Nor was he more successful with the captain of the town 
watch, stationed at the opposite corner. He had seen a 
few people in the street ; they had made no disturbance ; 
he had noticed nothing. 

Eight hundred stand of arms, two hundred cutlasses, 
cartouches, flints, and matches (those were the days of 
Brown Bess), and eleven hundred pounds of gunpowder 
had been carried unseen through the public streets, as 
upon the invisible carpet of the " Arabian Nights " ! 

It sounds like a tale of the Ku-Klux time, when towns 
and villages went deaf and blind as wild Justice passed 
by! 

All hope of a peaceful solution was soon at an end. 



GATHERING OF THE STORM 201 

Again the delegates were summoned to Philadelphia, and 
sailed, despite of admonitions to caution from Rawlins 
Lowndes, with assurances from the General Committee 
that whatever they decided should be sustained. Seldom 
has more confidence been placed in men. In three days 
after their departure the fast-sailing brigantine, the In- 
dustry, outstripping the express rider by four days, 
brought the news that the war had begun. The battle of 
Lexington had been fought and " the shot heard round the 
world " greeted the dawn of a new day. 



CHAPTER XII 

STATE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED. THE FIRST SHOT 

FIRED 

THE gravity of the situation was apparent to all. The 
General Committee at once summoned the Provincial 
Congress, of which (Colonel Charles Pinckney resigning) 
Mr. Henry Laurens was elected President. A committee 
of ways and means to put the colony in a state of defence 
was first appointed; and then, June 4, 1775, was formed, 
not lightly or unadvisedly, but after earnest thought and 
debate, that solemn association, signed, immediately after 
divine service had been performed before them, by the 
President and all of the members. 

They pledged themselves " under every tie of Religion 
and Honour to associate as a band in the defence of South 
Carolina, against every foe. . . . Solemnly engaging 
that whenever our Continental or Provincial Congresses 
shall deem it necessary, we will go forth and be ready to 
sacrifice our lives and fortunes to secure her freedom and 
safety." 

It was the first formal declaration of that devotion 
which, for weal or woe, the sons of Carolina have ever 
given to their State. 

The Congress voted to raise two full regiments of foot 
and one of horse, and a million of money. Of this last, 
Moultrie says at a little later time : " We talked of millions 
and it was next to nothing. There was one conveniency 
in it, a couple of men on horseback with bags could con- 

202 



STATE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED 203 

vey a million of dollars from one end of the country to 
the other in a little time with facility." 

It (the Congress), then feeling itself too large and 
unwieldy a body for prompt action, appointed a Com- 
mittee of Safety, to be in all respects, in finance, commis- 
sions, defences, military organizations, etc., the execu- 
tive power of the Province, and having done all these 
things it sent a courteous message to the lieutenant-gov- 
ernor to inform him of the proceedings. 

But the moment of William Bull's release had come. 
The booming of the guns which announced the arrival 
of H.M.S. Scorpion, bringing Lord William Campbell 
to his new government, spared the gallant old man the 
pain of receiving and answering the message. He could 
not, he said, receive any communication when his Excel- 
lency was in the colony. The messengers withdrew and 
the Lieutenant-governor hurried from Ashley Hall to re- 
ceive his successor. 

Lord William probably owed his appointment to his 
marriage with Miss Izard, which would, it might be pre- 
sumed, give him some interest and popularity in the 
colony. 

But for this, the ministers would hardly have sent so 
dull a man to such a post at such a time. 

The young people had paid a short visit to Charles 
Town after their marriage in quieter times, but there had 
been, legend says, some curiosity to know how they — and 
particularly " Sally Izard " — would bear her elevation to 
such a dignity. Would she be natural and agreeable as 
Lady Charles had been (she, poor thing, had died at Exe- 
ter a short time before), or would her title and her dignity 
turn her head, and "make her airish"? This gossip had 
been, but times were too serious now. 

There was no reason to suppose that the new Governor 
would bring tidings of any better disposition of the min- 



204 CHARLESTON 

isters, and it was but a cold welcome which met the young 
man on the quay. The necessary forms were observed ; 
the militia were arranged in order, "but they made no feu 
de joie, as had ever been their custom ; " no prominent 
gentleman went on board, to meet and escort him to the 
Council Chamber ; only a few placemen, fifteen at most, 
attended his parade, and when his commission was read 
before him from the steps of the New Exchange, it was 
received in sullen silence. It was impossible not to see 
that the people were angry, and to contrast this with the 
boisterous enthusiasm of the welcome given to Lord 
Charles only a few years before. 

Standing on the steps of the Exchange to-day, it is impos- 
sible to escape a feeling of sympathy for the young man 
thrust by no fault of his own into so impossible a situation. 

Mrs. Blake's Meeting Street house had been chosen as the 
residence of the new Governor and his lady (her cousin) ; 
but it was not quite ready when they arrived, and they 
were invited to become the guests of another cousin, Mrs. 
Miles Brew ton, in her King Street house. Here they were 
hospitably and handsomely entertained, and all her old 
friends called upon the lady. But there could be no ease 
or comfort in their endeavours to show sympathy or kind- 
liness, while all knew that their husbands and brothers 
were ranged in direct opposition to all that her husband 
represented. Her own sister, Mrs. Arthur Middleton, was 
the wife of one of the leaders of the extreme party ; her 
brothers, Walter and Ralph, were "patriots "; there were 
but few whose opinions did not agree with them. 

No sooner were they arrived than the delegation of the 
Provincial Congress desired admission. The Congress 
whose very existence he was bound to deny! The ad- 
dress was brought by ten newly made captains and 
colonels, only two besides his host, Mr. Brewton, retaining 
their pacific designations and costumes. 



STATE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED 205 

It set forth that they were the humble and loyal sub- 
jects of his Majesty, defending themselves against arbi- 
trary impositions and grievances ; that " the hands of His 
Majesty's Ministers having long lain heavy, now press upon 
us with" intolerable weight. . . . No love of innovation, 
... no lust of independence, has had the least effect upon 
our counsels, . . . solely for the preservation and in de- 
fence of our lives, liberties and properties have we taken 
up arms. . . . We sincerely deplore those slanderous in- 
formations, those wicked counsels by which his Majesty 
has been led into these measures . . . and we wish for 
nothing more ardently than for a speedy reconciliation 
with the Mother Country upon Constitutional principles 
... we readily profess our loyal attachment to our Sov- 
ereign, his Crown and Dignity . . . our taking up arms 
is the result of a dire necessity and in compliance with the 
first law of nature, 1 ' and much more to the same effect. 

One is bound to believe all one's grandfathers ; but al- 
though it is undoubtedly perfectly true, that all, except 
Gadsden and possibly two or three others, would have re- 
joiced at "a speedy reconciliation upon Constitutional 
grounds," yet from what terrible wrongs and grievances 
the people of Carolina were then suffering is beyond the 
power of this present writer to perceive ! A threat of 
what would be done if a trifling tax were not paid was so 
far the worst. 

Lord William's reply was dignified and straightfor- 
ward. He knew, he said, no such body as the Provincial 
Congress; only the General Assembly as bylaw appointed. 
He had not yet had time to study the " unhappy disputes " 
and make a report of them to his Majesty, but assured 
them that " no representation shall ever be made by me 
but what shall be strictly consonant with truth, and with 
an earnest endeavour to promote the real happiness and 
prosperity of the Province." 



206 CHARLESTON 

The delegation withdrew, and Lord William was left to 
study the address. He had not the advantage of Governor 
Bull's advice, for he had hastened forty miles away from 
noise and strife to soothe his vexed spirit among his be- 
loved rice fields, at his plantation of Sheldon in Prince 
William's parish. So carefully did he keep out of the 
way that Lord William afterward reported that he had 
only seen him for one day while in Charles Town ! 

The more his Excellency pondered the address, the less 
he liked it. He seems honestly, at first, to have desired 
reconciliation, and the words " we have taken up arms," 
" we shall take up arms," alarmed him greatly. Such 
words had not been spoken to any English King since the 
days of the Stuarts. Was another " Great Rebellion " 
about to begin? 

Mr. Miles Brewton, Lord William's host, was one of the 
most conservative of the patriotic party, — one of those 
who, Drayton intimates, acted as balance-wheel to their 
more impetuous comrades. With him the new Governor 
talked earnestly and long that evening. He would do 
much, and could do much, he said, to smooth away diffi- 
culties if those words were withdrawn. They amounted to 
a threat, and who dare threaten a King ? Their immediate 
effect would be to cause troops to be sent to Charles Town. 

His anxiety was so great that he even called Mr. Brew- 
ton from his bed in the middle of the night to discuss the 
matter which had murdered sleep, and entreated him to 
use his influence with the Committee to substitute some 
less offensive phrase. Mr. Brewton at last assented and 
the uneasy young Governor sought his couch. 

Mr. Brewton did his best. He consulted with the 
three of the Committee whom he thought most likely to 
listen patiently to Lord William's representations. They, 
however, agreed that no such proposition could be enter- 
tained for a moment, and the idea was abandoned. 



STATE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED 207 

The Congress adjourned and the Committee of Safety 
ruled in its stead, Henry Laurens being chairman of the 
one, as he was President of the other. 

Officers were appointed for the two regiments, but there 
was some hesitation as to how their commission should 
read, " for the majority of the Committee was not yet pre- 
pared for such independent action as issuing them under 
seal." Moultrie was made colonel of the second regiment, 
and has left a copy of that given to him, on plain paper 
with no seal. 

" In pursuance of the Resolutions of the Provincial Con- 
gress we do certify that William Moultrie Esqr., is Colonel 
of the 2nd Regiment of the Provincial Congress. 

" Dated the 17th June, 1775, and signed by all the 
Committee of Safety." 

The officers fully understood the step they were taking. 
Moultrie says of this time : — 

" Charles Town looked like a garrison town, every- 
thing wore the face of war, though not one of us had the 
least idea of its approach, for we were anxiously looking 
forward to a reconciliation . . . when on the 19th of April, 
1775, war was declared against America by the British 
troops firing upon the inhabitants of Lexington. . . . 

" We were without money, without arms, without am- 
munition, no generals, no armies, no admirals, no fleets. 
— This was our situation when the contest began against 
the country which we had been taught to consider and 
respect as the finest in the world." 

Moultrie had for his lieutenent-colonel his brother-in- 
law Isaac Motte, grandson of the first Huguenot immi- 
grant of the name, who had long been Royal treasurer of 
the Province; another brother was one of his captains. 

Francis Marion, the favourite Revolutionary hero of 
South Carolina, was his major. Marion, born of Hugue- 
not parents, came from St. John's parish. In boyhood he 



208 CHARLESTON 

had shown a great desire for the sea, and had been allowed 
to go as a sailor on a trial trip to the West Indies. The 
trial was short. The schooner was wrecked, the crew 
took to their boats. That in which Marion with three 
companions was, drifted about on the ocean for many 
days before being picked up. The men were saved from 
starvation by devouring a dog, which had jumped into 
the boat as they pushed off. A hurricane, a wreck, a 
burning sea, and raw dog flesh were too much for the 
would-be seaman, who returned home to become one of 
the most famous of partisan leaders. 

Christopher Gadsden, then in Philadelphia, was made 
colonel of the 1st, with Isaac Huger (afterward general) 
for lieutenent-colonel, and Owen Roberts, grandson of 
the Huguenot pastor " Robert," for his major. The com- 
pany officers were young men of all the best names of the 
Province. Moultrie speaks of the eagerness to secure 
commissions. There might be doubt about political 
movements, but there was none when it came to military 
service. 

The " Secret Committee " in the meanwhile was at still 
more dangerous work. Gunpowder was in great demand 
— a reward was offered to whoever should make it; 
therefore they resolved to plunder upon the high seas ! 

It had come to their knowledge that Wright, Royal 
Governor of Georgia, had ordered an armed schooner to 
lie in the mouth of the Savannah, to meet and convoy an 
English vessel which was expected to arrive with a large 
supply of the precious dust on board. 

It was too tempting a prize to be lightly resigned. 
The committee in turn armed a schooner, got her com- 
missioned by the Congress of Georgia then sitting, and 
sent her to sea with a crew from both Provinces. Cap- 
tain John Barnwell and Captain Joyner for South Caro- 
lina, Captains Brown and Habersham for Georgia, in 



STATE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED 209 

command. At sight of them the Governor's schooner 
took flight, the ship with sixteen thousand pounds of 
powder was overhauled and had to give up her valuable 
freight, the powder equitably divided, and the affair kept 
secret! Evidently, as said before, words were used 
" with liberal constructions " in those days. 

This escapade had important results, for an innocent- 
lookins: schooner laden with sacks of corn came down 
from Philadelphia, sent by the delegation, to William 
Henry Drayton, Arthur Middleton, and C. C. Pinckney. 
These gentlemen were entreated to send on all the powder 
possible, for the war had begun in Massachusetts, and the 
supply there was nearly exhausted. The committee re- 
joiced that its piratical exploit should have so happy a 
justification, took the schooner round into North Edisto 
Inlet, and with the assistance of Georgia loaded her with 
a liberal supply of powder, covered the casks with rice 
tierces, and sent her to sea. She arrived safely, " and it 
was by the arrival of this powder that the American 
arms penetrated into Canada, and the siege of Boston was 
continued." Governor Drayton adds, with filial pride, 
that this enterprise was conducted on the sole authority 
of these young men, " and had the Revolution not taken 
place, but Colonial affairs settled down to a Rebellion, 
there is no doubt but that these distinguished patriots 
would have been marked out as early victims to private 
persecution, and British vengeance." 

By this time Bunker Hill had been fought, Congress 
had appointed general officers for an army, and Washing- 
ton had been made commander-in-chief. 

Lord and Lady William now established themselves in 
their own house, and Moultrie says that his Lordship made 
himself very agreeable to the younger men, with whom he 
was on easy and sociable terms, promising commissions and 
so on. Also the ladies called upon the " Governor's Lady." 



210 CHABLESTON 

His Excellency had not yet met the Commons House — 
the body which he himself had declared to be the lawful 
representatives of the people ; but on the 10th of July 
it assembled, and he found himself confronted by the same 
men to whom he had refused to listen, when they appeared 
as the Provincial Congress. His address was reasonable 
and well intended, but though he had spoken with the 
tongues of men and angels, he could have made no effect. 
Only one thing could have brought peace and that one 
thing he had no authority to promise. The Commons, 
by their Speaker, Rawlins Lowndes, answered, deploring 
the state of affairs, and especially that his Excellency 
should say "if there were any grievances when the 
whole world resounded with them ! " etc. There was 
no satisfaction to either party. Usually the Governor 
prorogued the unruly Assembly, but now the Assembly 
begged to be prorogued. It would do no business, ad- 
journed from day to day, answered his Excellency's 
exhortations with baffling speeches, and turned the deafest 
of ears to the subject of appropriations. Lord William 
declined to prorogue, but despairing of making any im- 
pression, bethought himself of the "back country," as 
everything above fifty miles from the coast was then 
called. The people of that section were by no means 
devoted to the patriotic cause, and he soon received 
promises of help from them. The Executive Committee 
was anxious about it, too, and was trying to secure its 
aid. 

William Henry Drayton and the Reverend Mr. Ten- 
nant, a Congregationalist minister from New England, 
and a zealous patriot, were sent to inquire into the state 
of feeling there, and to endeavour to arouse some interest 
in their cause. They had no success ; the few who 
promised aid under the influence of Drayton's fiery elo- 
quence soon returning to their former ways of thinking; 



STATE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED 211 

but they discovered that the Governor was carrying 
on a secret correspondence with these people, and incit- 
ing them to tarn their arms against their countrymen. 
Drayton was so assured of this that he wrote to the Com- 
mittee of Safety urging them to " take the Governor into 
custody." The Committee was not prepared for any such 
decisive measure. The Councils of State were not very 
energetic just then, for of the leaders of the active party 
Arthur Middleton alone was present. 

Christopher Gadsden, John Rutledge, Henry Middle- 
ton, Thomas Lynch, and Edward Rutledge were in Phila- 
delphia, Moultrie and C. C. Pinckney were drilling their 
newly raised soldiers, and Drayton was in the up-country. 

The conservative party for once had the power ; Laurens, 
Bee, Brewton, C. Pinckney, speaking generally by Raw- 
lins Lowndes, resisted Middleton's plea for aggressive 
measures. It is wonderful, considering what very differ- 
ent opinions the members of the Committee held, that 
they got on without open quarrel. But to the credit of 
their manners and their self-control there was no colli- 
sion. Provocation there must have been on both sides. 
A favourite measure with Drayton and Middleton was the 
confiscation of the property of those persons who had 
left the Province, or who refused to sign the association. 
This Lowndes and his party steadily opposed, and Middle- 
ton wrote to Drayton : — 

" The matter is not rejected only postponed. Rawlins 
Postponator declares the resolution not proper to proceed 
from the committee of South Carolina, and so arbitrary 
that only the Divan of Constantinople could think of pro- 
mulgating such a law." 

Opposition to such a measure is easily understood. The 
young men were quite too arbitrary in many ways, as 
when they punished Mr. Wragg, a consistent Royalist, 
for refusing to sign the association. First they desired 



212 CHARLESTON 

him " to remain within the limits of his ' Barony,' " and 
then compelled him to take ship for Amsterdam. The 
ship was wrecked, and Mr. Wragg was drowned. He had 
escaped the tender mercies of Blackbeard to perish by the 
injustice of his country men. Had he known in death that 
a monument to his virtues and loyalty would be erected in 
Westminster Abbey, it might have been a consolation. 

Governor Drayton tells, with a certain sense of awe, 
that the Committee even dared to approach his revered 
great-uncle, the Lieutenant-governor, on the subject of the 
association. But he, whose good sense and dignity never 
failed him, answered calmly, that he " wished as well to 
his country as any man could do," his heart and hand were 
hers, but holding his Majesty's commission as he still did, 
" even you gentlemen would look upon me in an odd light 
were I to subscribe an instrument of this kind." The 
rebuked visitors held their peace. 

The Secret Committee next had recourse to the terrible 
punishment of tar and feathers ! 

Three poor wretches, convicted of various malpractices 
against the Revolutionary party, were by its order " ex- 
alted " and paraded through the streets. 

The Governor naturally was enraged and alarmed. If 
he knew, as perhaps he did, that his plots with the up- 
country had been discovered, it was no wonder that he 
was so; but being a brave man he met the emergency 
boldly, and sent a message to the Commons House, ex- 
pressing his disgust and horror, ending : — 

" In a word, gentlemen, you well know that the powers 
of the Government are wrested out of my hands ; I can 
neither protect nor punish. Therefore with the advice of 
his Majesty's Council I apply to you, and desire that in this 
dreadful emergency you will aid me with all the assistance 
in your power, in protecting his Majesty's servants " 
(one of the men ill-used had been an English soldier), 



STATE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED 213 

"and all other peaceable and faithful subjects, in that 
quiet possession of their lives and property, which every 
Englishman boasts it is his birthright to enjoy; or you 
must candidly acknowledge that all law and government 
is at an end. Sorry I am to add that some particular in- 
sults offered to myself make it necessary that I should be 
assured of the safety of my own family, and that its peace 
is not in danger of being invaded." 

The Royal Governors were certainly badly treated by 
their home government. About the same time Governor 
Wright of Georgia wrote to General Gage : — 

" I have neither men nor money. The Governors had 
better be in England than remain in America to see their 
powers executed by Committees and mobs." 

In answer to Lord William's complaint, the Commons 
appointed a committee of inquiry and made Miles Brew- 
ton the chairman. The committee after some days re- 
ported that they greatly regretted that in the disturbed 
state of the community violences by mobs could hardly be 
prevented. That the particular case to which his Lord- 
ship referred had taken place under circumstances of 
peculiar aggravation; that it was really not worse than 
punishments " frequently inflicted by an English mob upon 
very petty offenders, surrounded by an active magistracy 
and even in full view of his Majesty's palace " (alluding 
to the pillory which long stood near St. James's). " They 
were very sorry that any particular insults should have 
been offered to his Excellency, or that he should have 
any reason to apprehend that the peace and dignity of his 
family were in danger. They hoped and trusted that his 
Excellency's wise and prudent conduct would render such 
apprehensions groundless ; and that on their part every 
endeavour would be used to promote and inculcate a 
proper veneration and respect for the character of his 
Majesty's Representative." 



214 CHARLESTON 

The two men, Lord William and Mr. Brewton, connected 
by marriage, and on friendly terms, must have both felt 
to how little such a message amounted. 

During these months in Charles Town Lord William had 
found means of communicating with Fletchall, Cunning- 
ham, and other " well-affected " men of the middle country, 
and had given them liberty to do what they pleased to re- 
capture the Province for the King. A man named Kirk- 
land had managed to elude the vigilance of the different 
committees, and had had some interviews with his Lord- 
ship. This Drayton discovered while with Fletchall; 
hence his advice to arrest the Governor. The strong 
opposition of Rawlins Lowndes had spared him that igno- 
miny, but thenceforward he and his household were under 
surveillance. Captain McDonald, 1st Regiment, disguised 
himself as a back countryman, and supposed by his Excel- 
lency to be a sergeant of Kirkland's company, and em- 
powered by him to carry information to his friends, learned 
that Lord William had lately received letters from the 
King, promising that troops should shortly arrive, that the 
colonies should be subjugated from one end to the other, 
and that South Carolina would be the seat of war. 

Lord William also informed Captain McDonald that 
although he would send him for safety, as he had already 
sent Kirkland, aboard the Tamar man-of-war, then ly- 
ing in the harbour, he was as well off in Charles Town, 
as the militia were ill disposed to the Commons and ready 
to turn against them. 

A man named Floyd also testified that Lord William 
had said to him, " Tell the people in the back country to 
do the best they can ; he did not desire any effusion of 
blood, but whatever they should do, would meet with his 
consent." 

This was news for an irresolute Council of Safety ! 
Should the Governor at once be taken into custody ? Mr, 



STATE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED 215 

Lowndes again opposing and Mr. Middleton urging the 
step. The} r first sent to demand that the Governor should 
show his despatches, and should deliver to them Moses 
Kirkland. His Excellency promptly and indignantly re- 
fused to do either. Both parties were now on the qui vive. 
The Committee determined to seize Fort Johnson, and 
gave orders that it should be done the same night, but 
Lord William was too quick for them. He had been on 
his way to the waterside when the Committee had met 
him. After a few hours of consultation with the com- 
mander of the Tamar, Captain Thornborough, he returned 
to his house, and early in the night Mr. Innes, his secretary, 
with a force of the Tamar s crew, went to Fort Johnson, 
dismounted the guns, and withdrew the garrison, before 
three companies of Colonel Moultrie's regiment, com- 
manded by Lieutenant-colonel Motte, reached the island. 
Three men surrendered the fort. Luckily the departing 
force had overthrown but not spiked the guns. They 
were soon remounted and good as ever. 

Lord William now understood that all was over. Tak- 
ing with him the Great Seal of the Province, the emblem 
of sovereignty, he entered a small boat on a branch of 
Vander Horst's Creek, which came up to the back of his 
garden, and went on board the Tamar, riding at anchor 
in Rebellion Roads. Thence he issued a proclamation 
dissolving the Commons House of Assembly. This was 
done on the fifteenth day of September, 1775, and ended the 
existence of the General Assembly of South Carolina, 
which had ruled the Province since its first meeting on 
St. Helena Island in the year 1660 under the government 
of William Sayle. 

Never again was " God save the King " to express the 
love and fealty of the people. 

With no Governor and no Commons, the government 
was entirely in the hands of the General Committee, 



216 CHABLESTON 

which sent a deputation to the Tamar requesting his 
Excellency's return, and assuring him that if he would 
repeat his declaration to take no active steps against the 
colony, he should be safe and respected in the town. 
Lord William replied that he " had made no such dec- 
laration which would have been inconsistent with his 
duty to his King, and that when he returned to Charles 
Town it would be for the purpose of protecting the loyal 
inhabitants." 

The Committee was by no means happy. The differ- 
ences of opinion among the people were great. Many 
who had seemed urgent in the cause were now lukewarm, 
the militia was insubordinate, the open rupture distressed 
many who had always expected reconciliation, and the con- 
flicting opinions within the Executive Committee itself 
prevented any prompt and vigorous measures. Henry 
Laurens wrote to the delegation in Congress telling all 
that had occurred and asking direction. He says of the 
Governor : — 

" His Lordship had not only shown a fair face when 
waited upon, but had in the most condescending terms in- 
vited Gentlemen to call on him, in order to give him oppor- 
tunity for expressing his good wishes to the Colony, while 
he was at the time privately spiriting up the people of our 
Frontiers to oppose our Association, and to hold them- 
selves in readiness to act in Arms against the Colony." 
He relates the circumstances as given, and adds : " We 
intend to persevere in repairing the Fort" (Johnson) 
" and will put it in the best posture of defence. We 
also intend to fortify the Harbour, ... it is possible 
the man-of-war may interrupt our proceedings; in such 
case we shall be under the necessity of attempting to take 
or destroy her — we are at a loss to know to what lengths 
each Colony will be warranted by the Voice of America, 
in opposing and resisting the King's officers in general 



STATE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED 217 

and the British Marine, tho' such opposition should be 
necessary for the very existence of the Colony, and support 
of the Common Cause." 

This last seems, remembering what had already hap- 
pened in Massachusetts, a singular question to ask. But 
it was one upon which men felt much doubt. 

Four months later Stephen Bull of Sheldon, colonel 
commanding at Port Royal, wrote to ask what should be 
done against predatory parties, and Laurens after some 
explanations concludes decidedly : — 

" To avoid all mistakes and misconstructions it is our 
opinion that you ought to fire when you see proper upon 
the enemy in his advance to rob or annoy you." 

To understand the hesitation we must remember that 
many of these men had once fought as Englishmen ; and 
not without a pang at heart, even under deepest provoca- 
tion, do men fire upon the flag which once was theirs. 

The delegation wrote to urge that all the cannon 
should be mounted at the town, and the harbour be de- 
fended to the last extremity. But a strange lethargy 
seemed to pervade the Committee, and little was done 
until November, when the Provincial Congress met and 
William Henry Drayton was chosen President. Drayton 
was at first by no means pleased with his elevation, and 
declared that he had been made presiding officer " in order 
to gag him." If his opponents had ever entertained such 
an idea, it proved that they little knew the man. 

Drayton's whole soul was now in the work of defend- 
ing the country and establishing her independence. Not 
Gadsden himself had cut more completely loose from all 
bonds of the past; and instead of Gadsden's rough and 
turgid though forcible speech, Drayton was an eloquent 
and graceful orator. No hard and fast parliamentary 
rules confined him to "putting the question" and keeping 
order. Every debate was closed by an address from the 



218 CHARLESTON 

chair, summing up the arguments and giving his own 
views with such force, that he became much more effec- 
tive as President than ever before. His ideas of military 
and especially of naval matters amused Colonel Moultrie, 
who declares that he was "neither soldier nor sailor and 
did not know one rope from another," but at all events he 
meant that in some way the town should be defended. 
His first scheme was to block up the channels by sinking 
hulks, — a plan which has since been tried. It was use- 
less, of course ; but it had one effect which he desired, that 
of provoking the enemy's fleet to open fire. 

All the summer the Tamar and the Cherokee had been 
lying in and about the harbour ; sometimes going to sea for 
a day or two, sometimes sailing composedly under the 
guns of Fort Johnson, but never firing a shot. 

Now, however, when they saw the channels through 
which they were accustomed to pass being blocked up, 
especially that between the shoal which now bears Castle 
Pinckney and the opposite marsh (known as Hog Island 
Channel, the same into which the tea had been thrown), 
they threw half a dozen shots at the hulks to stop pro- 
ceedings. 

The shots fell short, perhaps were not intended to hit, 
but rather as a protest. 

It was, however, quite enough for the gallant President 
of Congress. He had fitted out a little schooner called the 
Defence with a few small guns, manned her with thirty- 
five men under Captain Scott of Colonel Moultrie's regi- 
ment, as marines, and was on board as commander himself. 
It was this which excited Moultrie's amusement, but 
Drayton knew what he meant. Captain Simon Tufts 
could sail his vessel, and Captain Scott fight his men, 
but he, and no other, was to give the word when to begin 
this momentous war. 

Accordingly as soon as possible the Defence sailed up, 



THE FIRST SHOT FIRED 219 

cast anchor, and opened fire on the astonished Tamar. 
Not many shots were exchanged, the turning of the tide 
separating the antagonists ; but at four next morning the 
fight was renewed, the Cherokee coming to the assistance 
of her consort. All the time Captain Blake went on dili- 
gently sinking his hulks, regardless r of the heavy fire. 
The gunners at Fort Johnson, longing to join in the fray, 
fired their heavy cannon, but the distance was too great 
for them to do any damage. Not until the last hulk was 
sunk did the little Defence turn and sail back to the wharf. 
There she was received with the shouts and cheers of the 
populace, who had " crowded to East Bay to witness the 
engagement, or to indulge in the anxious cares which 
were thereby excited," while Mr. Drayton, who had been 
on board the whole time, received the congratulations of 
his friends. The Defence had five or six shots in her hull 
and rigging, the British ships the same, and no one on 
board any vessel was hurt ! 

" Anxious cares " were for the moment forgotten. 
Drayton had done his work, that which he had set him- 
self to do, well ; he not only committed the people to his 
darling policy, but he had excited their enthusiasm. Men's 
blood boiled with the sound of the guns, and for some time 
all was activity. A ship in port, the Prosper, was seized 
and armed, the universal Mr. Drayton was promptly com- 
missioned captain (to the amusement of some, as has 
been said), and everybody concerned in the affair of the 
Defence was formally thanked by Congress, of course 
after " Divine Service being performed by the Reverend 
Paul Turquand." They also informed the Council of 
Safety of Georgia that they intended to attack the men- 
of-war and asked to borrow some powder. This last decla- 
ration disturbed the conservative party greatly. Prepared 
for defensive measures, they were not yet ready to take 
the offensive, still clinging to the habits of their lives. 



220 CHARLESTON 

Every " resolution " thus introduced was combated well 
and strongly by Rawlins Lowndes, and urged with greater 
vehemence, if not more reason, by Drayton and Middleton. 
Of these parties Mr. Drayton's son says : — 

" It must not be supposed that the persons leading the 
opposition had any but the purest views. ... It must 
not be forgotten that the citizens of South Carolina did 
not lead, but followed in the Revolution. They had been 
mildly treated by the Royal Government, and therefore 
did not easily resign British protection. Hence the public 
mind weighed how far it should support violent measures 
against the Ancient Government. . . . Revolutionary 
principles led them step by' step to concede points as 
proper and patriotic, which a short time before they had 
thought disloyal and inadvisable." 

These gentlemen of the opposition were, he says, " kept 
in place as eliciting more prudent measures," and " that 
their conduct in so doing was not disapproved, the high 
public stations to which many of them were afterwards 
called during the most critical times of the Revolution 
will be the best assurance of the public approbation." 

Things were going too fast for the moderate party now; 
the warlike preparations went on, work on the Prosper 
by day and night, etc. ; but still reverencing " his Majesty's 
Representative," it was resolved " that previous to any 
attack upon the men-of-war in the Roads, the intended 
attack upon such ships shall be notified to Lord William 
Campbell if he shall then be on board." 

A piece of courtesy worthy of " Messieurs les gants 
glaces" but one of which Lord William, a gallant Scotch- 
man, would never have availed himself. 

Having done all this the Congress adjourned, leaving 
authority to the Council of Safety; but first, with a deli- 
cate irony, it requested that the "Hon. Mr. Lowndes 
shall return the thanks of the House to the Hon. Wm. 



THE FIRST SHOT FIRED 221 

Henry Drayton Pres. for the diligence and propriety with 
which lie has discharged the duties, etc., etc." 

Mr. Lowndes had fought Mr. Drayton every day of the 
session, and did not hesitate to say that he was driving 
to destruction. Nevertheless, with the stately formality of 
the period, in the most courteous terms he thanked Mr. 
President for the " integrity of heart, ability of mind, and 
unwearied attendance which have given the most perfect 
satisfaction." Those were the days of manners ! 

The Council of Safety, strengthened by the addition of 
Henry Middleton and John Rutledge, who had returned 
from Philadelphia, now seriously took up the question of 
fortifying the harbour. Another vessel had joined the 
Cherokee and the Tamar, the Scorpion, Captain Tolle- 
mache, which had on board a second fugitive Governor, 
Joseph Martin, of North Carolina. Lord William and 
Captain Tollemache wished to open the war themselves by 
attacking Fort Johnson, but the Captain of the Tamar 
refused, saying that his vessel could not stand the guns. 
This plan of his Lordship and Captain Tollemache became 
known in the town, and the excitement was great. 

The threat of attack becoming imminent, the misery of 
" refugeeing " began. People sent their women and chil- 
dren out of harm's way. Mr. Laurens says, " I have just 
sent Mrs. R. and Miss C. to Mr. Harleston's in St. Johns, 
Mrs. P. E. and M. have gone as far as Amelia Township, 
and Mrs. Manigault with vast reluctance will at last be 
persuaded to go to Silk Hope — but she says that she 
shall never return." Silk Hope was the plantation on 
Cooper River where Sir Nathaniel Johnson had formerly 
raised silk; it had been bought by Mr. Gabriel Mani- 
gault. 

Mrs. Horry, writing at the same time, gives a lively pic- 
ture of the situation and of the way in which it was met. 
She writes to her friend and connection, Miss Trapier, at 



222 CHARLESTON 

Georgetown, the lady whose letter has already been 
quoted: — 

" How distant is the prospect of felicity now ! How 
uncertain 'tis when we shall meet again! My Mother 
(Mrs. Pinckney), Daniel (her baby), and myself, intend 
to go to a little Plantation house at Ashepoo " (a river 
about twenty miles south of Charleston) " in search of 
safety, when we can no longer stay here. Think with 
what reluctance I must leave the place of my Nativity, 
this poor unhappy Town devoted to the flames, when I leave 
in it my Husband, Brothers, and every known male rela- 
tive I have (infants excepted) exposed to every danger 
that can befall it, were their lives but safe, I think I could 
bear with some degree of fortitude the Evils of Indigence 
that stare us in the face, however hard to human nature, 
and to human Pride. 

" Mr. Trapier" (commandant at Georgetown) " will 
inform you of affairs here, and of the mortifying fact of 
the number of disaffected in our Province to the American 
cause. I really believe that the Gaiety and Levity reported 
of our Sex in Town, is very unjust; I have seen very little 
of the first and nothing of the second, indeed I think de- 
jection appears at present, the Cloud that hangs over us, 
ready to burst upon our heads, calls for all our Fortitude 
to meet the awful event with that decency and resigna- 
tion becoming a Xtian. . . . Almost all the Women and 
many hundred Men have left Town! In a few days I 
imagine we shall have hardly a female acquaintance to 
speak to. . . . My brother (C. C. Pinckney) is at ye Fort. 
Tom at present recruiting. Mr. Horry goes to ye Fort 
to-morrow to spend a month." 

Women and non-combatants have the hardest fate in 
war time. While the sister was penning this unhappy 
letter, the brothers were writing gayly from the fort — 
that victory is certain — will the ships only come in, and 



THE FIRST SHOT FIRED 223 

they want for nothing, but " another waist coat and two 
pairs of socks." 

The immediate cause for this alarm was the order issued 
by William Henry Drayton as President of the Provincial 
Congress, " To the American officer commanding at Fort 
Johnson, by every military operation to endeavour to 
oppose the passage of any British naval armament that 
might attempt to pass." 

Most happily the British ships did not attempt to pass. 
They could have run by easily, and bombarded the town 
at their leisure, for there was nothing to guard the shores 
of Sullivan's Island and Haddrell's Point (now Mount 
Pleasant). But the Tamar and the Cherokee contented 
themselves with lying in the roads and looking dangerous. 
Lord William was still on board; his wife had been sent to 
a place of safety. After some days both vessels sailed 
away south, to the relief of the people, it being now 
determined to fortify the island. The Council sent for 
Colonel Owen Roberts and put him in charge of the 
work. The cheapness of war then is a frightful contrast 
to the military budget of the present. 

" Mr. Dewees " (owner of the island two north of Sul- 
livan's, which still bears his name) "is to furnish palmetto 
logs until further order, not less than ten inches diameter 
in the middle. One-third are to be eighteen feet long, 
the other two-thirds twenty feet long. They are to be 
delivered at such part of Sullivan's Island as shall be 
directed, and shall be allowed one shilling per foot for all 
such logs as delivered; in which delivery the utmost ex- 
pedition must be used." 

And this was the beginning of Fort Moultrie, which 
six months afterward was to withstand the bombardment 
of a British fleet. 

Even before this time the Province had recognized that 
it was hard put to it for a government. It had no leader; 



224 CHARLESTON 

the Congress and Council were many-headed monsters, 
and all men felt that delay and vacillation were the inevi- 
table results of the conflicting opinions of so many honest 
and, possibly, hard-headed men. 

The Provincial Congress, finding itself in such a case, 
asked the advice of the Continental, which had other 
such questions before it, and it, after deliberation, advised 
that an election should be held for " a full and free Rep- 
resentation of the People " to compose a body for which 
should be renewed the name of General Assembly of 
South Carolina, and that this Assembly should decide 
upon a form of government which should maintain peace 
and order " during the continuance of the present dispute 
between Great Britain and the Colonies." 

The Provincial Congress took the advice, with one very 
important exception. It was itself, it declared, a full and 
free representation of the people; why hold another 
election when here were the gentlemen of the country, 
all devoted to its interests and anxious only for the gen- 
eral good ? This was true enough as regarded the par- 
ishes, but the rest of the Province was hardly represented 
at all. Once more Rawlins Lowndes threw himself into 
the opposition. He and his party demanded the election, 
in order that the people might express their wishes more 
fully on this important point than they could do by a 
Congress elected so long before when the State affairs had 
been entirely different. He did not believe, he said, that 
the present body was vested with powers for this purpose. 

The Congress, however, would pass no " self-denying or- 
dinance " and voted to retain its power. 

There was a terrible sensation when early in the session 
Christopher Gadsden, who had been wrecked upon the 
coast of North Carolina on his voyage from Philadelphia, 
produced three copies of Tom Paine's " Common Sense," 
which he had rescued from the waves, and sending one to 



THE FIRST SHOT FIRED 225 

Savannah to enlighten the Georgians, presented another to 
the Congress, boldly advocating the declaration of absolute 
separation from Great Britain and Independence of Amer- 
ica. Tom Paine and his books were, to most decent and 
law-abiding people then, as the Devil and all. his works are 
to devout Christians to-day. Mr. Lowndes denounced 
them openly, cursing Paine roundly in full Congress, and 
John Rutledge rebuked his late colleague, Mr. Gadsden, 
warmly, declaring that he would himself ride post, day 
and night, to Philadelphia, to stop so terrible a disaster. 
These men did not abandon but were driven from their 
allegiance. 

Mr. Gadsden silenced, a committee was appointed, of 
which Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was chairman, to 
frame a constitution, to be ready for discussion by the 5th 
of March. 

The report was presented and over every important 
point debate arose. What the result might have been it 
is now impossible to say, for while still in progress news 
came from Savannah that a ship had arrived from England 
bringing an Act of Parliament passed in December, two 
months before. 

The act declared the colonies to be in actual rebellion, 
authorized the capture of American vessels, and legalized 
all seizures of persons and property, and of damages 
done to the colonies before the passing of the act. It was 
equal to a declaration of war. There was nothing to be 
done but to look to themselves, and still hoping for ulti- 
mate reconciliation, purchase it by proof of strength and 
power. 

Debate was checked, and in five days the Constitution 
was adopted. The preamble, written entirely in the hand- 
writing of John Rutledge, differed from that originally 
proposed, by relating fully the differences between the 
mother country and the colonies, the desertion of Lord 

Q 



226 CHARLESTON 

William Campbell, etc., and wound up with "it is become 
indispensably necessary that during the present situation 
of American affairs, and until an accommodation of the un- 
happy differences between Great Britain and America can 
be obtained (an event which though traduced and treated 
as rebels we still earnestly desire), some mode should be 
established by common consent and for the good of the 
people, the origin and end of all government, for regulating 
the internal polity of this Colony." 

The Constitution as agreed upon provided that the col- 
ony should be governed by a President and Vice-presi- 
dent, a Legislative Council and a General Assembly. And 
the Provincial Congress, having wound up its existence as 
such by signing this Constitution through its President, 
Mr. Drayton, in the morning, met again in the afternoon 
as the General Assembly and proceeded to business. 

It first elected the Council — no longer " his Majesty's " 
but " the Legislative " and then the officers — for Presi- 
dent, John Rutledge ; Vice-president, Henry Laurens. 
William Henry Drayton was made chief justice. 

The members of the Legislative Council had generally 
been of the Council of Safety ; but Richard Richardson, 
Le Roy Hammond, and Joseph Kershaw represented the 
middle of the Province, which had had no representation 
in the Council before. 

This long — it may be feared tedious — account has 
been given, because this whole affair appears peculiarly 
characteristic of the people and the race. This great 
change was made so quietly, — in such accordance with 
usual custom, changing only that which had to be changed, 
— that life went on with little jar or confusion. Even when 
measures were not, as Revolutionary measures can hardly 
be, strictly legal, they were yet expressed and executed in 
such terms and forms of law, that the public mind was not 
shocked ; the strongest prejudices were considered, and 



THE FIRST SHOT FIRED 227 

except in the instance of Gadsden's premature and auda- 
cious proposition, which Drayton says "fell like an ex- 
plosion of thunder " into the House, there was no violence 
of language. 

Contrast this with the French or South American Revo- 
lutions! 

The choice of John Rutledge, the new President, was 
somewhat of a compromise brought about by the urgenc}^ 
of the moment. The Conservatives would have preferred 
Lowndes or Laurens, the Revolutionists Gadsden or Dray- 
ton. But in this moment of peril both parties were glad 
to agree upon a man of intellect and character, not given 
to extremes, and who had already, by strength of convic- 
tion and will, done great service to his country. 

Chosen in his twenty-sixth year as a delegate to the 
Stamp Act Congress of 1766, " the members of the distant 
Provinces were," says Ramsay, "astonished at the eloquence 
of the young member from South Carolina." 

The impression so made was never effaced. Nine years 
later, when the first Continental Congress was summoned 
to meet in Philadelphia, he, with Henry Middleton, was the 
choice of both parties. When Rawlins Lowndes moved to 
limit the powers of the delegates, it was he who success- 
fully resisted the resolution. " Oratory was with Mr. 
Rutledge the vehicle by which sound common sense was 
given its most fitting and forcible expression." In a power- 
ful speech, he advised the people to choose men in whom 
they had full confidence, and then to trust them absolutely. 

When Mr. Lowndes (who had every reason to fear the 
superior numbers of the Northern colonies) asked, " What 
should be done if the Delegates should commit the State 
to rash action," he replied curtly, " Hang 'em." Plenary 
powers were bestowed. 

Of Henry Laurens, Vice-president, much has already 
been said. His letters, freely quoted, show the man. He 



228 CHARLESTON 

was wise and true in counsel, but slow in action ; and 
saw too clearly all sides of a question to be a prompt 
or decisive leader. He was to fill great positions before 
long, and to fill them admirably. 

A new selection of delegates for the Continental Con- 
gress was necessary. 

Mr. Henry Middleton declined reelection on the score of 
age and health. Mr. Thomas Lynch was stricken with 
paralysis in Philadelphia. Colonel Gadsden was to com- 
mand his regiment, — and Mr. Rutledge the Province. 

Of the delegation Edward Rutledge alone remained 
available. 

The General Assembly, as the Congress was once more 
called, reelected him, chose Mr. Arthur Middleton and 
Mr. Thomas Lynch in their fathers' places, and Mr. Thomas 
Heyward to complete the number. 

It then adjourned, leaving the President and Legislative 
Council to direct the preparations for the war which was 
soon to begin. The change of government was felt. 
Moultrie, who had suffered from the uncertain policy, 
says : — 

" This new system opened such a scene of regularity, 
as confounded and astonished the disaffected, and gave 
great pleasure to the friends of the Revolution." 

One would like to know what the women thought of it 
all. Women are by nature conservative and these Charles 
Town ladies had no reason to be otherwise. They were 
well contented with their lot in life ; enjoyed a ball at the 
Governor's mansion, liked a trip to England, and had 
small knowledge of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
Moreover they believed in the right divine of Kings (as 
of everything else in the prayer-book) and that they 
were made to do justice and judgment, — when not mis- 
led by wicked ministers. Women in Carolina were well 
trained in political thought, and knew the points at issue 



THE FIBST SHOT FIRED 229 

between the Council and Commons, for instance, as well 
as their husbands and brothers could do. Too many of 
them were estate owners and managers for them not to be 
versed in these matters; but when it came to the Lord's 
Anointed, it was a comfort to know that most of the clergy 
were on their side. Not all, indeed, for Mr. Bollman the 
Assistant at St. Michael's had been dismissed only a little 
time before for preaching " a most unmannerly discourse " 
and addressing his respectable congregation as " silly 
clowns and illiterate mechanics who ought not to censure 
the conduct of Princes and Governors." This was terrible 
to them, but when Mr. Smith gave his sermons, " most 
patriotick and Xtian," before the Congress, although they 
wept they were happy, for they felt they had the blessing 
of the church. Mr. Smith was the most distinguished of 
the clergy of the time, a fellow of Cambridge and a man 
of piety and talent. He was also very interesting to the 
fair sex, as being remarkably handsome and the hero of 
a romantic story. It was said that on his first arrival in 
Charles Town, as he came up from the wharf, he had been 
seen from the window by a handsome young lady, who 
then and there fell in love with him and declared that he, 
and he only, should be her husband. A beauty and an 
heiress is apt to have her way, and the attractive young 
cleric was captured. She — as is proper for a heroine of 
romance — died early, leaving no children, and he survived 
to be the husband of two other wives. 

When once the war began, the women were, as is gen- 
erally the case, the most enthusiastic, but in the beginning 
it was hard. The breaking of old ties, of loyalty that 
was religion, of kindred and affection — in all the higher 
class there was hardly a woman's heart that was not thus 
rent. They bore it as women do bear sacrifices called for by 
the men they love ; and in the end came peace and healing 
of wounds, and the pride of the Mothers of the Nation. 



CHAPTER XII 

BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 

THE realities which now faced the people of Charles 
Town were serious enough, but worse, far worse, 
were the threats which Dame Rumour diligently spread. 

Of these, British instigation of Indian massacres and 
negro insurrections were the worst. The former report 
indeed proved that Rumours can, like the Father of Lies 
himself, sometimes speak truth. The manner in which 
Great Britain did, through her agents, incite the Indians 
to slay, torture, and ravage the inhabitants of the back 
country must always remain a blot on her scutcheon. 
But she never did emulate the fiendish atrocity of the 
Spaniards by exciting a servile insurrection. The report 
had just come in a letter from Arthur Lee, colonial 
agent ; it had died out, revived, grown, and strengthened, 
until it told severely upon nervous people and timid 
women. Many persons left the Province in consequence. 
Among the most conspicuous of these was Miles Brewton, 
whose wife, a very nervous woman, persuaded him to 
take her and her children to Philadelphia, where were 
several members of her family (Izards), in order to escape 
the worst of dangers. Mr. Brewton, a consistent conser- 
vative, seems to have taken the same view of the state of 
affairs as Henry Laurens, and was probably, like him, 
glad to put his family in a place of comparative safety, 
while intending to return himself. 

230 



BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 231 

The family tradition is that such was the timidity of 
Mrs. Brewton that she exacted from her husband, who 
was part owner of the vessel in which they were to sail, 
a promise that they should hug the shore and cast anchor 
every night ! 

This very classical way of sailing was probably, by 
doubling the time of the voyage, their destruction. A 
few days after their departure a frightful storm arose. 
Their ship was never more heard of. Only the Gazette 
announced that a terrible gale had ravaged the coasts of 
North Carolina and Virginia, and that many vessels had 
been lost. 

Mr. Brewton's large estate, including a quantity of 
valuable furniture, silver, china, etc., was divided between 
his tw T o sisters, Frances, the wife of Colonel Charles Pinck- 
ney, President of the Provincial Congress, and Rebecca, wife 
of Jacob Motte. His house, already so often mentioned, 
went in the division of the property to Mrs. Motte. 

His likeness, by Sir Joshua, still hangs in the drawing- 
room where Lord William received the Provincial Con- 
gress; and an interesting picture of his two little children 
was unfortunately burned in Mrs. Motte's plantation house, 
" El Dorado " on the Santee, a few years ago. 

It was not rumour but an intercepted letter from the 
English secretary of war which brought the positive 
information that Admiral Sir Peter Parker was to sail for 
the Southern coast and reduce the Southern colonies. 
Which colony should be first attacked was to be decided 
later. The fleet was augmented by some of the vessels 
bringing the army which had just evacuated Boston, Sir 
Henry Clinton in command. Sir Henry, having stopped 
at New York, met there Lord William Campbell, who, 
anxious to return and " protect the loyal people of Charles 
Town," at once offered to serve as a volunteer on board 
the admiral's vessel. He accompanied the fleet accord- 



232 CHARLESTON 

ingly. Not until Sir Henry had been some days at Cape 
Fear did Sir Peter's fleet arrive, and then Charles Town 
was agreed upon as the point of attack. Washington 
meanwhile had warned the colonies, and ordered General 
Charles Lee to the Southern department, with especial 
orders to "watch Sir Henry Clinton." 

Charles Lee, an English soldier of experience and 
talent, had been appointed by Congress third in command 
under Washington. 

He was brave, brilliant, knew his trade, had fought in 
half the countries of Europe, and knew perhaps more of 
the art of war than any other man in America. He had no 
character, no manners, and an abominable temper, — a 
difficult man to command a volunteer force. 

The situation that he found was this : the town itself 
had its old bastions, and earthworks were thrown up 
along East Bay, the warehouses and dwellings being 
pulled down not to interfere with them. On James 
Island, the southeastern guard of the harbour, was old 
Fort Johnson, strengthened, and mounted with heavy 
guns — a battery on the same island but nearer the town 
commanded the inner channel. Colonel Gadsden with 
the First Regiment was here. This fort (Johnson) is 
not three miles from the southeastern point of the Battery, 
but Sullivan's Island to the north is farther east and 
about six miles from it. Sullivan's Island is in shape 
very like the beak of a " spoon-bill duck," the long part 
lying along the coast of the main (Christ Church parish) 
and the western end turning abruptly north toward 
" Haddrell's Point," the promontory of the shore. A 
marsh intersected by many creeks, and over a mile wide, 
separates the island from the main, and between Had- 
drell's and the town is the broad mouth of Cooper River. 
There was no Fort Sumter then, but the shoal on which 
it has since been built, called " the middle ground," lay 



BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 233 

between Sullivan's and James islands and did good ser- 
vice. Beyond Sullivan's to the north is Long Island, a 
narrow channel separating the two, and beyond Long 
Island, Dewees, whence the palmetto logs for' the fort 
had come. 

The fort, ordered in January to be built with " all 
expedition," was not half done in May when the news of 
the coming of the fleet was received. At once all was 
bustle and activity, numbers of mechanics and negroes 
were sent over to work on it. Soldiers were enlisted and 
hurried down. All the young men of the jeunesse doree 
were begging for commissions. Those who had been in- 
different or opposed were as one now. " Some persons 
indeed," says Moultrie, " were incredulous of the good 
faith of those who were to fight our battles — but the 
officers who were constantly with them had no such 
fears." In a few days their regiments were full, they 
had no longer any difficulty in recruiting. 

The approach of the fleet had done more in one week 
to unite the people than the acts of the ministers or the 
eloquence of Gadsden had effected in months. Did the 
government not know that it would be so ? Had ever 
Englishmen yielded to compulsion ; and were not these 
their sons ? What thing but one could happen when armed 
cruisers appeared off Charles Town bar ? 

Moultrie had command of the fort, and at the other end 
of the island, facing the inlet which divided it from Long 
Island (now the Isle of Palms), were two small sand 
batteries, commanded by Colonel Moses Thompson of 
Orangeburg (commonly called " Old Danger ") with his 
regiment of rangers, some companies of Colonel Daniel 
Horry's dragoons, and fifty " Raccoon Riflemen," so called 
from their coonskin caps, commanded by Captain John 
Alston, all perfect marksmen. 

The flag under which these men were to fight had been 



234 CHARLESTON 

devised by Moultrie himself some time before, and had 
been hoisted at Fort Johnson, during the attack on the 
Tamar and Cherokee. It was a blue field, with a white 
crescent in the upper right-hand corner, and was, he says, 
chosen to match the caps of the soldiers, which were blue 
with silver crescents. The uniform (the description is 
from Colonel Moultrie's regimental order book), with which 
every officer was to provide himself, was " a blue coatee, 
faced and cuffed with scarlet cloth, and lined with scarlet, 
white buttons and white waistcoat and breeches (a pat- 
tern may be seen at Mr. T.'s), also a cap and a black 
feather." 

A miniature of Captain (afterward General) Thomas 
Pinckney, then of Colonel Gadsden's regiment, dressed 
in this uniform, is in the possession of the present writer. 

On the 31st of May an express galloped in bringing 
news that the fleet was off Dewees Island only twenty 
miles away. All was hurry and bustle — the President 
sending expresses to order down the militia ; militia 
coming in ; men trying to send their families into the 
country ; workmen tearing the lead from churches and 
houses to make musket balls ; soldiers raising barricades 
across the streets ; and building fleches to command the 
landings. Moultrie and his men were encamped in huts 
and tents behind the unfinished fort, which was too full 
of work and workmen to receive them. The fort was a 
double square pen, built of palmetto logs piled one upon 
the other, and securely bolted together ; the space be- 
tween the inner and outer pen was about sixteen feet, and 
this was filled in with sand ; there were square projections 
(bastions) at each corner. It was intended to be ten feet 
high above the gun platforms, but a part was never fin- 
ished. It was mounted with sixty-two guns, and there 
were arrangements for protecting the gunners while fir- 
ing. Moultrie and Thompson had between them twelve 



BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 235 

hundred men on the island, and ten thousand pounds of 
powder had been sent by Rutledge for their use. Moul- 
trie says affectionately of the fort, that it was "strong 
and could hold a thousand men." 

But the commanding general was still to come, his 
arrival expected with very mingled feelings. Drayton 
says that expresses arrived with the information that 
troops from Virginia and North Carolina were coming to 
their assistance, and that Major-general Charles Lee, with 
Brigadier-general Howe of North Carolina, was posting 
before them. He adds reflectively : — 

" How far the Council of Safety, clogged in its actions by 
opposition and harangues, would have seized opportunities 
as they occurred, how far that body as an executive could 
have harmonized with the high and experienced military 
officer who was approaching, — and whose singular man- 
ners made it necessary for the public good that all 
unpleasant sensations thence arising should be put down ; 
are questions upon which so much would have depended, — 
and from which so much was to be feared, — that it is 
fortunate for South Carolina, the new government was in 
operation; and that a statesman so energetic and so 
intelligent as Mr. Rutledge, was directing her affairs and 
condensing her strength." 

On the first day of June the British fleet," fifty vessels, 
arrived off the bar and dropped anchor, showing no sign 
of entering. 

President Rutledge and General Armstrong of Penn- 
sylvania, who had arrived a few weeks before, visited all 
the fortifications and made ever}^ possible arrangement for 
receiving the enemy. The militia, as they arrived, were 
assigned to posts and every one knew his duty. 

One important arrangement in the town was that in 
case of fire breaking out in the night-time, " two persons 
from the main guard shall go to the upper gallery of St. 



236 CHARLESTON 

Michael's steeple, and there hold out a lighted lantern on 
a pole pointing toward the fire." This device was used 
to indicate the place of a fire in Charleston, until thirty 
years ago. 

A few days later young Captain Thomas Pinckney wrote 
to his sister, Mrs. Horry, from the Battery which he com- 
manded on James Island: — 

"Fort Johnson, Sunday, June 1, 1776. 

" I would write more frequently to my dear Mother 
and Sister had I anything new to inform them ; the only 
occurrence which has happened since my last is that of 
the greatest part of the Fleet being got safe over the 
Bar, one vessel ran aground, and has continued there 
these three days past, so that I imagine she will never be 
got off. A flag of truce was sent on Friday by the 
men of war to Sullivan's Island, but it was fired upon by 
a sentry and return'd, in consequence of which Mr. F. 
Huger was sent to the Fleet yesterday in order to apolo- 
gize; he was very politely received, and his apology ad- 
mitted. The 50 Gun ship still remains without the Bar. 
My brother last night reed, a letter from Genl. Howe, 
dated at Georgetown on Friday. Genl. Lee was there 
with him, and we imagine they are both now at Sullivan's 
Island, their 'Troops were to be at Georgetown today. 
We are now well prepared for the reception of these Gen- 
try, whenever they shall be hardy enough to attack us. 
Adieu my dear Sister; keep up your own and my Mother's 
spirits, there is nobody here who doubts of our success! " 

In another letter published in " Life of Thomas Pinck- 
ney" he describes General Lee as having "a great deal of 
the gentleman in his appearance, though homely, and in a 
split shirt." 

The object of the flag of truce, which was sent again 



BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 237 

next day, was to bring a proclamation from Sir Henry 
Clinton, warning the deluded people of the miseries of 
civil war, and offering a free pardon to all who would 
lay down their arms and submit. The proclamation was 
received, but no attention was paid to it, and the day 
after Sir Henry landed five hundred men on Long Island. 

The Bristol, Sir Peter's own ship, had some difficulty 
in getting over the bar, but on the 10th, the tide being high, 
she scraped in, and the whole fleet lay inside and raked 
Sullivan's Island with their glasses. "They could see 
every move we made." 

General Lee had reached Haddrell's Point from George- 
town the day before, and immediately, without visiting 
Charles Town or consulting the authorities there, crossed 
to the island, examined the defences, and assumed com- 
mand. The South Carolina troops had not yet been 
mustered in as Continentals, and were under the control 
of their President only ; but on learning of General Lee's 
action, Mr. Rutledge at once issued an order that General 
Lee was in command of all the forces, and that his com- 
mands must be obeyed. Fortunately he did not give up 
all authority. 

Fortunately, for an important question soon arose; Lee 
had "hardly looked at the Island when he disliked the 
task of defending it," declaring (probably any other 
European officer would have done the same) that the fort 
was a " mere slaughter pen," and must be abandoned. 
Haddrell's was the point to be fortified and defended. 
He proposed this to the President, but he "rejected with 
indignation, a proposition so humiliating and dishearten- 
ing to the troops and the people and so advantageous to 
the views of the enemy." 

It is amusing to read the parallel accounts of Drayton 
and Moultrie from which this story is taken, — the 
former so provoked and irritated, the second so impertur- 



238 CHARLESTON 

bably good-natured and easy. Lee returned to the attack 
and tried to intimidate Moultrie, but failed utterly. 

"Do you suppose you can hold the Fort?" u Yes, Sir, I 
think I can." Others discouraged him also. He tells 
how " Captain Lempriere, a brave and experienced seaman, 
and captain of a very respectable privateer (!) visited me 
at the fort after the British ships came over the bar. He 
said to me, 'Well, Colonel, what do you think of it now?' 
I answered, 'I think we shall beat them.' 'Sir,' said he, 
pointing to the ships, 'when those ships come to lay 
alongside of your Fort they will knock it down in half an 
hour' (and that was the opinion of all the sailors). 
'Then,' said I, 'we will lay behind the ruins and prevent 
their men from landing.' " 

Moultrie's confidence came undoubtedly from his own 
disposition, but more from his confidence in his officers and 
soldiers. Men of his own kind, many intimate friends 
and relatives, all from the town and country at his back, 
all bound to do or die for the State of their birth. 

Again Lee pressed the evacuation upon Rutledge, but 
" happily," says Garden, " he, confidently relying on 
Moultrie and his intrepid band, heroically replied to Lee, 
'that while a soldier remained to defend it, he would 
never give his consent to such an order.' He did more, 
for he wrote to Moultrie : — 

" Genl. Lee wishes you to evacuate the Fort, you will 
not do so without an order from me. 

"I will cut off my right hand sooner than write it. 

"John Rutledge." 

It was probably fortunate, under the circumstances, 
that neither of the Carolinians was versed in the theory 
of fortification, or knew how poor their defence was. 
Lee, baffled in this plan, set himself to fortify Haddrell's, 
and for this purpose built two batteries near the Point, 



BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 239 

mounted heavy guns, garrisoned them with the forces he 
had brought with him, and put General Armstrong in 
command, ranking him over Moultrie. This would have 
mattered little if he had not taken more than half of the 
powder which Rutledge had sent to the fort to supply 
these batteries at Haddrell's. 

From the day of his coming until the fight was won 
Lee's letters to Moultrie continue distracted and distract- 
ing. " Colonel Moultrie's position," said Drayton, " was 
not of the most agreeable." It was, it must be confessed, 
in great part his own fault. Having resolved to hold the 
fort it was his manifest duty to hasten the completion. 
There was no need to tell him to be "cool," as Rutledge 
told him, but there was need, desperate need, to urge him 
to be quick. Unhappily that was what he could not be, 
nor could he make others so. Lee raged and fumed — 
showed the weak points. How the fort was so placed at 
the bend of the beach that if the ships ran past they could 
enfilade him easily. Ordered fleches and other protecting 
works — ordered the walls raised higher, ordered a bridge 
built to Haddrell's, for the retreat of which he was ever 
talking. Moultrie, his admirer has to admit, " was an 
officer of very easy manners, leaving to others many 
things which he had better have attended to himself." 

Although he had all the force of negroes and mechanics 
besides his soldiers that he could employ, the fort was not 
finished except upon the south and east fronts ; the 
fleches and traverse were not built, and there was no 
bridge for retreat. This Moultrie did not wish to build. 
Lee, who was very active, energetic, and competent, fretted 
in vain. He thought worse and worse of the fort, and 
was " all anxiety for the safety of the troops on the Island, 
as if they had been placed there merely for the purpose 
of spiking cannon, blowing up the magazine, and making 
a soldierly retreat; — not for opposing an enemy." Moul- 



240 CHARLESTON 

trie knew his own defects and was generous to his tor- 
menting monitor. He was, he says, " brave and energetic, 
but hearty and rough in his manners which the officers 
could not at first reconcile themselves to ; yet was thought 
by many to be worth a thousand men by teaching us not 
to fear the enemy." He also says quietly: " Genl. Lee did 
not like my having the command of that important post. 
He did not doubt my courage, but said I was too easy in 
command. After the battle he made me his bosom friend." 

From the 1st of June to the 28th, the ships lay in 
the offing, busy landing troops on Long Island. Sir 
Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis, two great English 
generals, with three thousand English soldiers, were there 
on that desolate sand-bank, with their tents and the low 
scrubby oaks and palmettoes as their only shelter. A 
letter afterward found on the beach told of their suffer- 
ing from the heat and u the moschetoes, than which no 
torment can be greater." They were planning how to 
cross the inlet, but found it deeper than they had expected, 
and feared to attempt it in the face of Thompson's bat- 
teries. The same letter says " the Americans were in- 
trenched to the eyes, had two thousand men, and four 
heavy guns, — they could have killed us alL before we 
could have landed." 

Thompson really had two small guns and seven hundred 
and eighty men, including two hundred North Carolinians 
under Colonel Clark. 

Moultrie with his usual optimism said, " I had no un- 
easiness when I found that Sir Henry had not more than 
three thousand men. I never expected any soldiers to 
reach the fort." 

Sir Henry did make an attempt to cross the inlet 
with a flotilla of boats, floating batteries, armed schooners, 
but a few discharges of grape-shot drove them back and 
they abandoned the attempt. 



BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 241 

The long suspense of twenty-seven days, most valuable 
to the workers, was trying to the spirits of the people ; 
wild rumours possessed the town that contrary orders had 
been received — that the heart of the King was softened — 
that there was to be no attack ! Think of the women on 
the plantations with all the men gone, and only an occa- 
sional rider bringing news, generally false ! 

It seems a special interposition of Providence that the 
attack was made on the 28th, for on the 27th General 
Lee informed President Rutledge that he intended to super- 
sede Colonel Moultrie, the next day, if he should find that 
certain work which he had ordered was not done. Had he 
done so, it is impossible to say what might have happened, 
for the soldiers were new to discipline, and Moultrie was 
their idol. 

The work was not done, but the battle was begun. 

Early on that morning Moultrie, who had ridden out to 
visit Thompson's redoubt, looking at the ships which lay 
off that end of the island, saw that they were loosing their 
topsails. He galloped back to his fort, sounded the long 
roll, and served out ammunition. 

The men had scarcely time to stand to their guns before 
the fleet came sailing up, a gallant sight. Confident of 
victory they came on abreast of the fort, cast anchor, and 
opened fire. There were eleven, carrying two hundred 
and seventy guns. 

Moultrie had in all sixty-two. The ships lay in double 
line and poured in their fire. The Thunder bomb threw 
her shells, the fort rocked beneath the blows ; worse than 
the noise and heat was the awful jar. Moultrie feared it 
might dismount his guns. Slowly, but with very careful 
aim, the fort replied, — and then that which seemed al- 
most impossible happened, for the fort sustained compara- 
tively little damage, and the great ships suffered severely. 
"Mind the Admiral, mind the fifty-gun ships," was the 



242 CHARLESTON 

word passed along the rampart, and the Bristol and Experi- 
ment suffered fearfully. In the fort the shot sank into the 
soft, spongy palmetto logs, which did not shiver or break, 
or buried themselves in the sand filling. The heavy shells 
thrown with great precision fell, many of them, into a 
little swamp in the middle of the fort and sank harmless. 
If only they could have kept a rapid fire, but Lee had 
left them but four thousand pounds of powder, and sent no 
more. • Moultrie had been and was too easy about it ; he 
should have represented it to Rutledge and secured more 
in time. Early in the action he said to Motte, his lieutenant- 
colonel, that he feared they were short of powder. " Write 
at once for more," said Motte, " and write in the most 
pressing manner." 

" Why," says Drayton, " did he not write the one word 
''Powder'? That would have been expressive." Instead 
he wrote to Lee: — 

" I think we shall want more powder ; at the rate we go 
on I think we shall. But you can see for yourself ; — pray 
send more if you think proper." That was sang-froid with 
a vengeance. 

When the note reached town, Lee was at Haddrell's, and 
it was taken to Rutledge. It did not seem urgent, but 
the President at once sent all he had, with a note " written 
on a scrap of paper." 

" I send you five hundred pounds of powder, you might 
be supplied from Haddrell's, you know our collection is 
not great. Honour and Victory my dear Sir to you and 
our worthy countrymen with you. Do not make too free 
with your cannon. Cool, and do mischief." 

Lee, who was at Haddrell's where the six thousand pounds 
of powder taken from Moultrie was, sent none, but a note : 
"If you should unfortunately expend your ammunition, 
without driving off the enemy, spike your guns and retreat 
with all the order you can. I know you will be careful 
not to expend your ammunition." 



BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 243 

If Moultrie did not rage when he received that note, it 
was not Lee's fault. Had he had his own powder he 
could have destroyed the fleet ! 

And so the cannonade went on. They saw that they 
were doing much damage, but did not know how much. 
The Bristol, the admiral's flagship, suffered most ; at one 
time Sir Peter himself was the only man left unwounded 
on the quarter-deck, presently he too was hurt ; — Lord 
William received a wound in the side, thought slight at 
first, but which ultimately caused his death. 

The captains of the Bristol and Experiment both died 
of their wounds. But the ships fought as English ships 
do fight, and men were sent in small boats from the less 
injured vessels to supply the loss of wounded and dead. 
Just before the little supply of powder came the fire was 
so slow that the British thought the fort was silenced and 
raised a shout of victory, but then it was resumed more 
quickly, and the shots told. The cannoneers were good 
marksmen ; the phrase " the man behind the gun " had not 
been invented then, but the man was there. The general's 
coolness communicated itself to the gunners. 

In the midst of the fight General Lee came over from 
Haddrell's and pointed a gun or two. He was impressed 
by what he saw. The man so quiet and easy at other times 
was all the soldier now, though suffering sharply from 
gout. His men were like him, — for use, not for show. 
" Motte and I were smoking our pipes but we put them 
away when Lee came down," Moultrie said. Lee stayed 
only a little while. " You are doing very well, you don't 
need me here, I shall go back to town," he said, and went. 

Sent no powder ! It is hard not to suspect him of 
treachery, but there is no warrant for it. 

When the flagstaff was shot away and the flag fell over 
the ramparts, the British raised another cheer, for they 
thought it meant surrender; but Sergeant Jasper leapt down 



244 CHARLESTON 

from the wall, seized and tore it from the staff, and climb- 
ing back fastened it to a sponge rod and the white crescent 
rose again. 

Then came the greatest danger of all, that which Lee 
had foretold. The Acteon, the Sphynx, and the Syren 
ran past the fort to enfilade it from the west. The 
rampart on that side was not of the proper height and 
the damage would have been great. But Heaven fought 
that day for Carolina. As the ships came about, crowded 
in the narrow channel, they collided, their yards fouled ; 
they could not manoeuvre and ran ashore on the middle 
" ground," the edge of the shoal on which Fort Sumter 
now stands. 

The Sphynx and the Syren got off badly damaged and 
withdrew, but the Acteon stuck hard and fast, driven deep 
in the sand. 

A long day it was, and hot beyond words. " To be 
upon the platform of a fort on the 28th of June, amidst 
twenty or thirty heavy pieces of cannon, in one continual 
blaze and roar, and clouds of smoke curling overhead for 
hours together, is an honourable but a very unpleasant 
situation," writes the colonel, and then he tells how he 
never in his life enjoyed anything so much as a glass of 
"cool grog" from a bucketful, served out to the men 
after hours of exertion ! 

All this time the townsfolk were watching the progress 
of the fight. They could tell nothing of the condition of 
either the ships or the fort because of the heavy smoke, 
except occasionally when a gust of wind would clear it 
away for a moment or two, and then they could see the 
flag still flying, — and hear the slow response of Moultrie's 
guns to the brisk cannonade of the ships. Lee's order, 
" If your ammunition gives out spike your guns and 
retreat," hung like a threat over the garrison. They could 
not allow themselves to give out. Dark came, and with it 



BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 245 

a thunderstorm arose. The soldiers, firing slowly through 
the roar, could not see, but heard their shot strike the 
vessels. At last the firing ceased on both sides. At 
eleven o'clock the ships " slipped their cables and quietly 
without piping " dropped down with the tide to their 
former anchorage. 

Think of the joy in fort and town ! By dawn of day 
the harbour was crowded with boats and small craft of all 
kinds hurrying to the scene of victory. The fleet had 
withdrawn to the channel off Morris Island ; the fort 
was practically unhurt, and the Acteon was still aground. 
A few shots fired at her from the fort were promptly 
returned by her gallant captain, who, throwing out his 
colours, and leaving his guns shotted, set her on fire and 
withdrew his crew in small boats. She was boarded by 
the Americans, but bursting into flames blew up with all 
her guns, and from her "rose a great column of smoke 
which soon expanded itself at the top into the appearance 
of a great Palmetto tree," which was seen by all the 
garrison. 

The loss of life was small, — twelve were killed and 
twenty-five wounded. The dying cry of one man de- 
serves to be remembered. Sergeant McDonald, killed by 
a shell, to the men who ran to his assistance, " Fight on, 
boys, don't let Liberty expire with me to-day." 

The flagship alone lost one hundred and four men. 
The admiral was wounded, the captain killed. The 
captain of the Experiment was killed also, and her loss of 
men was almost as great. The smaller vessels had suffered 
less, for the order " Mind the fifty-gun ships," had been 
obeyed. The Bristol had been severely handled, " almost 
torn to pieces," could not have been got off had not the 
sea been unusually smooth. 

If Moultrie had had powder enough, the ships must 
have struck their colours or been sunk. They could not 



246 CHARLESTON 

have retreated, for wind and tide were against them ; and 
to have gone up the harbour would have brought them 
under the guns of Johnson. 

This was the service done by General Charles Lee ! He 
had marred the victory and discouraged the men, yet he 
received the thanks and praise of Congress ! 

After the battle Lee was in high good humour. He 
visited the fort and complimented Moultrie and the gar- 
rison upon " a successful defence during a bombardment 
of seven and a cannonade of eleven hours." On the Fourth 
of July President Rutledge also visited the fort and con- 
gratulated officers and men upon their victory in an elo- 
quent speech, by which, Garden says, " New honours 
crowned the defenders of the Fort." Taking his own 
sword from his side he presented it to Sergeant Jasper 
with warmest praise of his brave exploit. 

Nor were (to use the gallant colonel's favourite phrase) 
" the patriotic Fair " backward in expressing their grati- 
tude. Many were the thanks, tokens, etc., and Mrs. Bar- 
nard Elliott, whose husband had so lately been of his 
Majesty's Council, but who was now, captain of the Artil- 
lery Battalion, presented the Second Regiment with " an 
elegant pair of colours, one of red, the other of blue silk, 
each embroidered with a splendid rattlesnake, coiled, with 
the motto, 'Don't tread on me.'" This device was sug- 
gested by the belief held by the early explorers to whom 
the rattlesnake was one of the marvels of nature ; and 
was expressed by Hewat, " One of the most formidable 
living creatures in the Avhole universe, he possesses that 
noble fortitude which is harmless unless when provoked 
or molested." 

The flags were received by Colonel Moultrie, at the head 
of the regiment, and Lieutenant-colonel Motte, returning 
thanks, promised that "they should be honourably sup- 
ported and never tarnished by the 2nd Regt." 



BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 247 

It was in rescuing one of these flags that Jasper lost 
his life at the siege of Savannah. Attempting to repeat 
his former feat, he was shot as he regained the rampart, 
and fell dead. He was only a little Irish sergeant, so 
untaught that he refused the commission that President 
Rutledge offered him, " because as an officer my comrades 
would blush for my ignorance. " " But still his name sounds 
stirring," and the boys of Charleston would be surprised 
and indignant if told that the statue which gazes seaward 
from East Battery, flag in hand, was not intended for him. 

The surprise and anger aroused in England by this 
victory was great. 

John Laurens, writing to his father from London, says 
that the account of the " Battle of Sullivan's Island 
(which we now call the Battle of Fort Moultrie), in Wills' 
Gazette, had been copied into all the English papers; but 
impartial people had been convinced, even from Sir P. 
Parker's own account, notwithstanding irksome truths had 
been suppressed, and great pains had been taken by the 
choice of expressions in relating the matter, to palliate his 
defeat, that the honour of a very clear victory belonged to 
our Countrymen." That an English admiral, with a well- 
appointed fleet of two hundred and seventy guns, should be 
beaten off by a miserable little half-built fort on an unin- 
habited sand-bank, was incomprehensible. 

" They did not know," Moultrie says, " the resisting 
quality of our Palmetto Wood." 

Clinton's failure to cross the inlet was still more aston- 
ishing. Ralph Izard, Jr., then in Europe, says he cannot 
understand it; cannot imagine how such a general as Clin- 
ton can have been a whole month on the island without 
sounding the passage! 

The assertion that the water had suddenly become much 
deeper provoked great ridicule. Johnson's " Traditions" 
gives this jeu oV esprit from the St. James Chronicle : — 



248 CHARLESTON 

A Miracle on Sullivan's Island 

By the Red Sea the Hebrew host detained, 
Through aid divine the distant shore now gained, 
The waters fled, the deep a passage gave ; 
As God thus wrought a chosen race to save. 

But Clinton's troops have shared a different fate ; 
'Gainst them, poor men, — not chosen sure of Heaven, 
The miracle reversed is still as great, 
From two feet deep the water rose to seven. 

Old Governor Sayle's " iron gate " had once more held 
fast and baffled the invader! 

The thanks sent on the 20th of July were from the 
United States of America, to the officers and soldiers " who 
with so much valour repulsed the attack which was made 
on the State of South Carolina by the fleet and armies of 
his Britannic Majesty," and was signed " John Hancock, 
President of Congress." The Republic had come into 
being, and the guns of Fort Moultrie had sounded a loud 
assent to the Declaration, which Thomas Jefferson read in 
Congress on that same " Carolina " day, a week before the 
" Liberty Bell " rang out in Philadelphia. 

Well might William Henry Drayton say, in summing 
up the achievements of his people — " We established the 
first Independent Government. We alone repulsed a 
British fleet." 



CHAPTER XIV 

PREVOST'S RAID. SIEGE AXD FALL OF CHARLESTON 

THE battle of Fort Moultrie was fought on a Friday, 
and the people of Charles Town naturally expected 
that on the following Sunday the churches would be filled 
with worshippers, all giving thanks to the God of Battles. 

St. Philip's, the White Meeting, the various indepen- 
dent churches were thronged accordingly, but the doors 
of St. Michael's were closed! The astonished congrega- 
tion learned with dismay that the vestry had been sum- 
moned at seven o'clock that morning, to take action on the 
refusal of their rector, the Reverend Mr. Cooper, to take 
the oath to observe the Constitution! 

The vestry had for the present only decided " That 
there be no Divine Service in St. Michael's this day." 

This was a very different matter from the dismissal of 
Mr. Bullman ; for the Reverend Mr. Cooper, an English- 
man born (as were all the clergy), had been in the town for 
many years and was much beloved. He had first come 
out as assistant minister at St. Philip's; but St. Michael's 
had asked for a rector who should be " of middle age, 
grave deportment and possess a good audible voice." 
In return for these reasonable requirements the Church 
offered a good house and one hundred and thirty pounds 
sterling a year, besides fees. No suitable clergyman ap- 
pearing, it had been determined to " call " Mr. Cooper from 
his subordinate position at St. Philip's. 

Mr. Cooper had married in the colony, had made himself 
extremely popular, and had many and strong friends. 

249 



250 CHARLESTON 

All that could be done to convince and persuade him was 
done, but he was firm in his convictions and would not 
part from Church and country. Most sorrowfully and 
carrying with them the love of many friends, he and his 
wife left Charles Town. 

At home his loyalty was rewarded by the rectory of 
St. Michael's Cornhill, where he lived for many years, 
always continuing his Charles Town correspondence. 

There were others whose position was much the same. 
No one was more beloved in the town than Dr. Garden, 
the physician and botanist ; but he too was British born ; 
sympathizing in great degree with American ideas, he 
drew the line at " bearing arms against the King." He, 
however, remained in Charles Town, the trusted friend 
and adviser until its evacuation, and then returned to 
England, taking with him his Carolinian wife. He had 
the pain of differing from his only son, Major Garden of 
the American army, afterward author of the "Anec- 
dotes." 

Some true Americans grieved likewise at the parting of 
the ways. Henry Laurens says that he wept when he 
heard the Declaration read, and it may be suspected that 
the heart of the Governor was likewise wrung. 

Not even yet did some of these men accept fully the 
final separation. In the flush of victory, for a little while, 
they were satisfied or even elated, but soon, very soon, 
came back the thought of the heritage they were renounc- 
ing, of the experiment they were trying. They knew, at 
least many of them knew, that it was not England or the 
English laws against which they were contending, but 
only a stupid King and a subservient ministry. 

Laurens had spoken truly when he said that their cause 
was that of the British Empire, — of the constitution 
itself. 

Two years later, Rutledge, who now commended the 



PREVOST^S RAID 251 

battle of Fort Moultrie and welcomed the Declaration of 
Independence, resigned his office rather than accede to a 
" permanent constitution " which would render a recon- 
ciliation with Great Britain impossible. Arthur Middle- 
ton, who had been one of the leaders of the extreme 
party, when chosen to succeed Rutledge, refused election 
for the same reason. 

They have been reproached with inconsistency, but the 
charge is unjust. They wanted a free and loyal govern- 
ment, and hoped by force of arms to win it within the 
Empire itself. That the Provinces should have been for 
a time a " free and independent league of states," did not 
make reconciliation impossible. Had not England been 
once a commonwealth, and was she not again a king- 
dom ? Had not much of liberty been won — and much 
retained — by the "Great Rebellion," even when "his 
most gracious Majesty " again ruled his loyal subjects ? 
Might not the sword win for them even from the King 
himself, — expatriated Englishmen though they were, — 
the respect and acknowledgment of rights which a large 
part of the English Parliament was already willing to 
grant ? 

It cannot be too clearly understood that with the single 
exception of Gadsden, the leaders of Carolina were not 
republicans. 

They were English Whigs, fighting as Gray and Peel 
and Russell fought sixty years later, for the reform which 
was gained the more easily then, because of the lesson 
taught by the American colonies during the reign of 
George III. 

Yet when forced to choose between rebellion and servile 
submission, none did more, or suffered more, in the Amer- 
ican cause than Laurens, Rutledge, and Middleton. 

The Declaration of Independence did not reach Charles 
Town until the 2d of August, the very day on which 



252 CHARLESTON 

the sorely damaged British fleet, somewhat refitted and 
assisted by transports sent from New York, left the har- 
bour and sailed northward. 

Mr. McCrady suggests that the young gentlemen in 
Philadelphia were in no haste to make a report of the very 
decisive step which they had just taken. Certainly when 
sent on, neither they, nor any who sent them, had the least 
intention of such a proceeding. On the contrary, Gadsden's 
motion for independence had been indignantly rejected. 
It may be, as Mr. McCrady supposes, that Edward Rut- 
ledge, especially, was in fear of his dominant brother, and 
that Thomas Lynch, who had been too ill to sign the Dec- 
laration, exerted himself to add his name to the letter of 
the delegates, in order to add his influence to theirs. All 
such anxiety was needless, now that the State had spoken 
by the mouths of her guns. 

The Declaration was read at the head of the army (as 
the few regiments were called) to the assembled townsfolk 
by Captain Barnard Elliott, and the time for opposition 
being past, all sorts and conditions of men gave enthusi- 
astic applause. Few perhaps realized that their enthusiasm 
would have to stand the strain of a seven years' war ! 

For the next three years, however, the war did not touch 
Charles Town herself — this boon her battle had Avon her. 
Men went about their business, sowed and reaped, bought 
and sold, " rode the circuit," wooed and married. 

Trade flourished exceedingly. As one of the few open 
ports, the wharves were crowded with ships from all neu- 
tral countries, and other States got their supplies through 
her. The British ships cruising along the shore inter- 
fered with this commerce as the pirates had done "lang 
syne," and privateers armed and put out to protect, or to 
prey, as the nationality might be. A more daring attempt 
to rid the coast of the invaders resulted unhappily. The 
State armed some small vessels which it called its 



provost's raid 253 

" Navy," they brought in some valuable prizes ; but then 
the Continental frigate, the Randolph, having on board a 
body of South Carolina regulars acting as marines, met in 
battle the British sixty-gun frigate, the Yarmouth, and after 
a very short fight blew up. All but fourteen of her men 
were lost. Her captain, Biddle, of Pennsylvania, and 
Captain Joseph Ioor, of Dorchester, South Carolina, com- 
manding the marines, both went down in her. Captain Ioor 
was of Dutch descent, one of that Massachusetts colony, 
almost all of which left Dorchester and went to Liberty 
County, Georgia, about 1754. With him the name became 
extinct. 

Among the few who escaped this terrible disaster was 
John Mayrant, of Charles Town, rescued after having 
floated for two days on the water. He was spared to 
win reputation fighting with Paul Jones, as lieutenant of 
the Serapis. The story is that when asked for his full 
name that he might be reported with commendation to the 
department, he answered that he " did not care particu- 
larly about that, but would like to have such a message 
sent to a certain young lady in South Carolina." 

During this comparatively tranquil period several 
officers obtained leave to increase their knowledge of war by 
serving under Washington. Colonels C. C. Pinckney and 
John Laurens had the honour to be received on his staff. 
Henry Laurens was then President of the Continental 
Congress. His son John, who had just returned from 
Europe, thoroughly educated, — " armed at all points " as 
his father had advised, — brave, talented, handsome, and 
enthusiastic, was to become the darling of the army. 
Both gentlemen returned home when they saw their own 
State threatened. 

Several serious fires occurred about this time, evidently 
of incendiary origin, which proved the truth of Moultrie's 
declaration that the place was " honeycombed with Tories." 



254 CHAULESTON 

In one of these which swept the lower part of Broad 
Street and destroyed about one hundred thousand pounds 
sterling of property, the Charles Town Library, with six 
or seven thousand books and instruments for astronomical 
and philosophical experiments, was almost entirely con- 
sumed. This loss was acutely felt. 

It was in this time also that Major Benjamin Huger 
rode into town one day with two handsome young French- 
men by his side: the Marquis de La Fayette and the 
Baron de Kalb, who had come to offer sword and for- 
tune to the American cause. De Kalb although German 
by birth was French by adoption, and an officer in King 
Louis's army. 

Not being able to enter the port of Charles Town, they 
had been put ashore at Mr. Huger's plantation of North 
Island, near Georgetown, in Winyah Bay. Hospitably 
entertained, they had unfolded their plan to their host, 
who had accompanied them to Charles Town, whence they 
could be escorted to General Washington's headquarters. 

Major Huger (formerly the husband of Miss Golightly) 
was now married again, and was the father by his second 
wife, Miss Kinloch, of a little three-year-old boy, who sat 
on M. de La Fayette's knee, and played with his bright but- 
tons and gold-hilted sword. The little fellow was, in years 
to come, to risk life and liberty to rescue his quondam 
playmate from the dungeons of Olmutz. 

On the meeting of the Assembly in 1778, the increase of 
Revolutionary feeling was clearly apparent. Resolutions 
to abolish the Church, to abolish the Council, to abolish 
the Governor's veto, to adopt a permanent constitution, 
which, as has been said, would make reconciliation with 
England impossible, were offered. The first of these mo- 
tions was postponed, but the republican party held 
strongly to the others. Rutledge resigned and Middleton 
declined the governorship, enduring much abuse in 



PROVOST'S RAID 255 

consequence ; Rawlins Lowndes accepted office and held it 
for one year, — having Christopher Gadsden for his 
Lieutenant-governor. He then resigned, advising the 
people, in view of the threatening aspect of affairs, to 
choose a ruler who could direct the military defence of the 
country — a post for which he knew himself incompetent. 

The Assembly politely assured his Excellency that he 
underestimated his own powers, but immediately elected 
John Rutledge, who though no soldier had their entire 
confidence — the greater apparently for his independent 
course of the year before. 

By the new constitution, the President became the 
Governor, the Legislative Council the Senate, and the 
Commons the House of Representatives, the whole form- 
ing the Legislature, which names are still in use. 

Before adjourning the Legislature conferred upon the 
Governor and his Council the right to exercise sovereign 
power until its next session. 

President Lowndes might well speak of th'e threaten- 
ing aspect of affairs. The British under Colonel Archi- 
bald Campbell and General Prevost, having gained 
possession of Savannah, and established themselves there, 
now began to threaten Carolina. 

General Howe had by this time been removed from 
command, and in answer to requests for assistance sent to 
Congress and to the commander-in-chief, the State had 
been told that she must rely for soldiers upon herself 
alone, but that another general should be sent. Accord- 
ingly General Benjamin Lincoln of Massachusetts, a 
respectable mediocrity, who had been with Gates at the 
surrender of Burgoyne, was put in command of the 
Southern department ; that is to say, of the Carolinas and 
Georgia. 

Early in 1778 Prevost crossed the Savannah and began 
his march, first attacking Port Royal. Lincoln was so 



256 CHARLESTON 

persuaded that his real object was the town of Augusta, 
about a hundred miles higher up the river, that he col- 
lected as many men as possible at the old Swiss settle- 
ment of Purysburg on the Savannah, in readiness to march 
to its assistance. But Prevost, being in Carolina, and 
finding only Moultrie with a handful of troops in front of 
him, advanced rapidly upon Charles Town ; Moultrie 
fighting at every defensible point, in order to gain time ; 
and falling back when overwhelmed by numbers. At 
last he was driven back into the town itself, Prevost was 
before the lines, and Lincoln, notwithstanding many mes- 
sages, was supposed to be still at his "camp of observa- 
tion" at Purysburg a hundred miles away. 

The lines were small earthworks, thrown up from river 
to river, a little above where Line Street is now. Some 
skirmishing with the advance guard delayed Prevost's 
progress. Count Pulaski, one of those gallant Poles whose 
sympathy in the cause of freedom led them to join their 
fortunes to those of the Americans, had arrived with a 
hundred and sixty men of his legion a day or two before. 
He made a sally with these, but was beaten back, leaving 
the greater number killed, wounded, or prisoners. 

The lines were so weak that the engineers declared them 
indefensible, but the spirit of the people was high. They 
remembered all that had been predicted of the " slaugh- 
ter pen" of Moultrie, and laboured indefatigably to 
strengthen the works. There is a pathetic story of the aged 
Gabriel Manigault, who, having lost his only son (Peter, 
the former Speaker), appeared in the trenches with his 
grandson, a lad of fifteen, both, musket in hand, prepared 
to fight for their home. 

The British force, said by Colonel Pierce Butler, adjutant- 
general of the State, to be between seven and eight 
thousand, though vastly superior in quality, being well- 
trained regulars, while the garrison had but few Continen- 



PBEVOSfS RAID 257 

tals, was not much more than two to one; and despite the 
opinion of the engineers Moultrie and Laurens were ready 
and eager to begin the battle, but the Governor would 
not consent. He said the odds were too great and that 
they must wait for Lincoln. The same curious division 
of authority between the civil and military officers which 
had been seen at the battle of Fort Moultrie still prevailed, 
and Rutledge was able to keep the soldiers in leash while 
he parleyed, — offered terms to which the English could 
not consent. Colonel Prevost, acting for his brother, re- 
fused, and again the officers urged instant action. Still the 
Governor stood firm even against nearly half his Council. 
He proposed to offer " the neutrality of the State during 
the war." The proceedings of the so-called Privy Coun- 
cil were supposed to be private, but the hot heads among 
them threw policy to the winds, appealed to the people, 
and even informed the soldiers in the trenches of the 
" treachery " of their leaders. These, that is to say the 
Governor and his party, received " solemn and serious 
warnings " that their heads should fall if they carried out 
their purpose. A warning to which these gentlemen paid 
not the slightest attention. 

By military usage the message should have gone by an 
officer, but the soldiers were furious and refused to carry 
it. Moultrie with difficulty persuaded Colonel Mcintosh 
to go with Rutledge's brother-in-law, Mr. Roger Smith, a 
member of the Council, to take the obnoxious proposition 
to Prevost. 

The proposition, it will be observed, was not the sur- 
render, but the neutrality of the town and State. The 
State was to be in the position of an independent power ; 
both Americans and English might use her harbours and 
profit by her productions. Prevost, with, as he thought, the 
town an easy conquest before him, would listen to no such 
offer. He peremptorily refused it ; recognized only the 



258 CHARLESTON 

General commanding, and demanded that on the fol- 
lowing day he should surrender the town and all its in- 
habitants as prisoners of war. "Then," says Moultrie, 
the Governor and Council looked very grave and stead- 
fastly on each other and on him, not knowing what he 
would say. He said, " I am determined not to deliver you 
as prisoners of war. We will fight it out." 

John Laurens jumped up exultant, crying, " Thank 
God, we are on our legs again." 

Mr. Kinloch, General Moultrie's aide, was sent out to 
say that all conference was at an end. 

By all this forty-eight precious hours had been gained. 

The night was spent in the final preparations for battle, 
but when morning dawned, the enemy was gone ! Pulaski 
immediately pursued with his horse, but the English were 
already across the Ashley River. 

The cause of this sudden retreat was an intercepted 
letter of Lincoln to Moultrie, saying that he would ar- 
rive in another day. 

Instead of hurrying down, as almost any other man 
would have done, he came by leisurely stages, "going 
into camp " en route, etc., and instead of coming, wrote 
to say he would come and attempted to send the letter 
through the enemy's lines. We could have " Burgoyned " 
them, Moultrie said, but Lincoln was too slow ! 

To no one was the disappointment so bitter as to the Gov- 
ernor. He alone knew that Lincoln was really in motion, 
and had made his plan accordingly to take the English in 
front and rear, and capture or destroy their army. Time 
only was necessary — time for the tardy, lingering move- 
ments of the general, and for time he fought, remaining 
absolutely silent because in his Council there was no 
possibility of secrecy. The fact of Lincoln's approach 
mentioned there would have been at once told in the 
town, and betrayed to the enemy. Not that the mem- 



pbevost's raid 259 

bers were not patriotic and devoted, but discretion was 
wofully lacking (as shown at the siege a year later) ; and 
yet such was the influence and position of some of the 
most indiscreet, that he could not afford to offend by 
excluding them from confidence given to others. 

So he played his game, remained silent, bore reproach 
and threat, and although disappointed in the great hope, 
gained the forty-eight precious hours, which saved the 
town the horrors of a storm, and left her another year of 
life. 

For no other act of his career has John Rutledge been 
so much blamed, and so much praised, as for this. His 
opponents called him a traitor and a coward. Ramsay 
praises and Moultrie wonders at his conduct. Mr. Mc- 
Crady, writing in the light of after time, thinks the prop- 
osition of neutrality that of a far-seeing statesmanship. 
Carolina was, he says, practically abandoned by the 
Northern states ; the best that could be done both for 
her and for them was to make her neutral. 

Mr. Rutledge made no such claim for himself. The 
above account is that which he gave to his sons, to whom 
he said that he " considered it the best thing that he had 
ever done." He had the proud satisfaction of knowing 
that the confidence of his countrymen was his. He had 
differed with his Council, and the next Legislature gave 
him authority to act without his Council. 

It should be noticed that at the siege of Savannah, a 
few months later, General Prevost made use of the same 
strategy of parley, to gain time for the approach of his 
reinforcements, and succeeded. 

One most unfortunate consequence of the confusion of 
authority already mentioned took place early in this 
affair. 

Major Huger had been sent beyond the lines with a 
small party to complete some earthworks. The general 



260 CHARLESTON 

had not been informed, and his orders to fire upon any 
persons approaching the fortifications by night were obeyed. 
Major Huger fell dead at the first shot. The distress 
and anger were great, for Huger was a gallant and ex- 
cellent officer. Moultrie at once claimed and the Gov- 
ernor agreed that all orders on military matters should 
henceforth be issued by him alone, while the right of 
negotiation, parley, etc., remained with the civil authority. 

Prevost had gone no farther than to John's Island, a few 
miles south of Charles Town, whence, after an indecisive 
skirmish, called the battle of Stono, he returned to Savan- 
nah, leaving a wide swath of desolation behind him. 

Houses and barns were burned, plantations laid waste, 
animals killed or driven off ; with an immense amount of 
silver plate, and a great number of negroes carried away 
to be sold in the West Indies, to the great emolument of 
the British officers. 

Some horses were quite too valuable to be resigned 
without an effort. Such were Flimnap and Abdallah, two 
superb imported animals, of which many tales are told. 

Major Garden relates, how the night after the battle, 
the American army lay upon James, and the English upon 
John's Island, with only the Stono River between. At 
dead of night a whisper went through the camp asking for 
"volunteers for dangerous service." In a few minutes a 
boat with muffied oars was rowing quietly but swiftly 
down and across the stream to the John's Island shore. 
Captain Thomas Shubrick explained to his crew that they 
were bound for the English camp at Mr. Gibbes's planta- 
tion, where were the captured horses. They were on 
their way to rescue them. The young fellows were de- 
lighted, and on reaching the place, crept softly from their 
boat, found the stable guarded by only one sleeping 
sentinel, opened the door, and led out the horses. 

Instantly two lads were mounted and riding for the 



PBtiVOST'S BA1D 261 

Stono Ferry, which they gained in safety and crossed with 
their precious booty. The rest of the party had a narrow 
escape. The horses had neighed upon being led out, and 
had given the alarm ; but Mr. Gibbes, hearing the stir 
in the camp behind, called a warning from his window, 
and the men had time to regain the boat and make off, 
before the British could get under arms. 

The young men were delighted with their exploit, and 
presented themselves to General Moultrie the next day, 
expecting commendation from so great a lover of horse- 
flesh. To their chagrin the general gave a sharp repri- 
mand for " unauthorized predatory expeditions." It may 
be feared that their repentance was slight. 

To the student of colonial history the worst of these 
losses is that of invaluable papers. In this raid of Prevost's 
the plantations of many of the most important families in 
the country, those who had played a leading part in early 
and in recent times, were destroyed : " Beaufort town " 
and all the places around Port Royal. Those of the Bulls, 
Barnwells, Heywards, and others were burned, Mrs. 
Pinckney's house at Ashepoo to which all her husband's 
books and papers had been sent for safety, Mr. Lowndes's 
at the Horse Shoe, and many others. 

The " torch of Prevost " became a by-word. 

In these skirmishes Moultrie had the satisfaction of see- 
ing the gallantry of his officers and men in " field fighting." 

The Artillery Battalion (Gadsden's first command) un- 
der Major Thomas Grimball, especially distinguished itself. 
Its two captains were signers of the Declaration, Thomas 
Heyward and Edward Rutledge, right glad to take the 
soldier jacket instead of the robe of office. 

Heyward was wounded at Port Royal. The reckless 
daring of John Laurens had nearly cost his own life and 
that of his detachment in crossing a river under fire. 
Captain Thomas Shubrick with difficulty rescued the 



262 



CHARLESTON 



wounded hero, and brought off the men. Major Roberts 
and Captain Charles Motte, defenders of Fort Moultrie, 
were killed in this campaign. 

It was all but a prelude to the great invasion which was 
to overwhelm the town and with it the State in 1781, 



^m> 




Relic of Tappy Wall 
Erected at time of the Revolution. 



when Sir Henry Clinton with a large force brought from 
New York landed on John's Island at the mouth of the 
Stono River. 

Sir Henry had profited by his experience at Sullivan's 



SIEGE AND FALL OF CHARLESTON 263 

Island three years before, and determined to take the 
town by the back door. Delayed for a while by storms 
and other misadventures, he made cautious and elaborate 
approaches, building batteries at the mouth of Wappoo 
Cut and on James Island, and sending his supporting fleet 
under Admiral Arbuthnot to seize the bar. Congress too 
had sent a fleet, commanded by Commodore Whipple. 
Unhappily this officer by too great prudence — to give 
the mildest name — sounded and examined, and came to 
the conclusion that the wind and tide would endanger his 
vessels too much if he attempted to defend the entrance 
to the harbour. He therefore decided to take up his posi- 
tion near the " Middle Ground," on which the Acteon had 
gone ashore, and assist Fort Moultrie in guarding the 
channel. This plan General Lincoln, after consultation 
with the pilots and personal examination, agreed to ; and 
had it been adhered to, it might have been well. 

But no sooner had Arbuthnot with his great ships safely 
crossed the bar without firing a shot than Commodore 
Whipple's prudence again awoke. He actually persuaded 
General Lincoln to allow him to bring his fleet up to the 
town, take out his guns, and sink the ships in Hog Island 
Channel. How Lincoln could have consented it is impos- 
sible to say ; except that although personally brave, he 
was evidently a very weak man, easily influenced, and 
was shockingly bullied all through the siege. 

The fleet with one hundred and fifty-two guns, nearly 
three times the number that Moultrie had in 1776, was 
thrown away by sheer cowardice. 

Fortifications had been erected across Charles Town 
neck, as the narrowest part of the peninsula is called, 
before Prevost's raid ; these were now strengthened and 
extended. 

They ran from just above the present railway station 
in Chapel Street, on a creek opening from Cooper River, 



264 CHARLESTON 

passing through Inspection (now Citadel) Square, where 
was a " hornwork," to the Ashley River near the foot of 
Bull Street. The small piece of " tappy " wall enclosed 
with an iron railing on Citadel Square is a fragment of 
this " hornwork," which was itself a fragment of an earlier 
date. 

Had Lincoln been of the same mind as Washington, 
who, like the Black Douglas, " liked better to hear the 
lark sing than the mouse cheep," he would have refused to 
defend the town, and have kept his army in the open. 
Washington said, both before and afterward, that the 
defence was a mistake, especially, as he wrote to John 
Laurens, when the command of the harbour had been 
given up, "which brings your affairs to a dangerous 
crisis." He himself had thus spared New York and Phila- 
delphia a siege, and had saved his army. 

He had been roundly abused for so doing, and Lincoln 
was not a Washington. The Charlestonians naturally 
wanted their town defended, and, as he wrote to Wash- 
ington, he really thought that such was the desire of Con- 
gress, and that he feared to abandon the valuable stores 
contained therein. The experience of 1776 and 1779 had 
made the people unduly confident; they hoped for victory. 
Moultrie describes how such of the ladies as remained in 
the place would come out to the walls to encourage the 
workers, and look with perfect composure at the long 
lines of English marching up and opening their trenches. 

Clinton advanced up the west bank of the Ashley. 
Colonel William Washington, who had lately been sent 
with a small body of horse from Virginia, and Colonel 
Tarleton, of the "British Legion," — names with which 
Carolina was soon to resound, — first met and fought dur- 
ing this advance. Their very first skirmish, Moultrie says, 
was on Governor Rutledge's own plantation near Ran- 
towles Bridge. 



SIEGE AND FALL OF CHARLESTON 265 

Washington was the son of Bailey Washington, brother 
to the grandfather of the commander-in-chief, and thus, 
as he said, his " kinsman." 

He was afterward known as " the sword of the army." 
He soon won the heart of Miss Elliott of Sandy Hill, and 
was married in the very midst of the war, his wife as 
courageous and devoted as himself. 

John Laurens also dashed himself and a small force 
against the oncoming wave, but the elder men said these 
were bravadoes "for honour, not for use." 

Heavy batteries along the west bank protected Clinton's 
passage of the river from Drayton Hall and Bee's Ferry 
twelve miles above the town, and then from Old Town to 
Gibbes Farm (now the Grove) only two miles outside of 
the lines. On their way the usual conduct of invading 
armies was followed. At Middleton Place, the soldiers 
were civil to the ladies, but amused themselves by throw- 
ing furniture out of windows, mutilating the statues, and 
cutting the head out of West's picture of Arthur Middle- 
ton, as that of a "d d rebel." The plate had been 

concealed en cachette in a heavy brick chimney, in which 
were three compartments. Each had its portion of silver, 
and each was confided to the care of a servant, who 
thought himself the only trusted person. 

The British insisted that plate there must be, and 
threatened torture. Two of the men yielded, but " Old 
Moro," the butler, was true to his trust, and one-third 
was saved. 

Carefully the lines were drawn, the trenches dug, and 
cannon mounted, great guns dragged all the way from 
Stono. No shot was fired in return to those by which the 
besieged sought to disturb the workmen, until the 5th of 
April, when Mr. Tom Horry had the honour of receiving 
the first ball, and escaped with slight injury. 

From that day the siege went on, ever increasing in 



266 CHARLESTON 

energy as more guns were mounted and the trenches 
pushed nearer and nearer. On their side the besieged 
worked indefatigably, and two French engineers, Colonels 
de Lannoy and de Cambray, did all that could be done to 
strengthen the lines. When Clinton in due form sum- 
moned the town to surrender, Lincoln immediately and 
without hesitation refused. There were in garrison, ac- 
cording to Moultrie, twenty-two hundred Continental 
troops, and some Virginians under Colonel Woodford ar- 
rived during the siege ; also an uncertain number of North 
Carolina militia, possibly thirteen hundred. Of the Con- 
tinentals, or regulars, eight hundred were South Carolin- 
ians, seven hundred North Carolinians, and three hundred 
Virginians. 

In all there were less than four thousand men, and 
Clinton had thirteen thousand of the best soldiers in 
America, before any reinforcements came in. 

On the 9th Admiral Arbuthnot, having waited for a 
southerly wind and a flowing tide, crowded on all sail and 
came up the beach channel. A splendid sight, even to an 
enemy's eyes ! Colonel Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
commanding at Fort Moultrie, opened on them with all 
his guns, carrying away a topmast or two, and killing 
(it was afterward learned) some four-and-twenty men. 

The ships did not pause to reply, but sailed rapidly past, 
firing a few shot as they went, which did absolutely no 
harm. Had Whipple's fleet been in position at the Mid- 
dle Ground to answer Moultrie's guns, much might have 
been done, but they were sunk in the mud behind Shute's 
Folly ! It was the difference between the command of Rut- 
ledge and Moultrie, and of Lincoln and Whipple! 

Before long the shells reached every part of the town. 
Fortunately the lots were so large and the gardens so 
many that the casualties were by no means as frequent 
as if the place had been closely built. Some women were 



SIEGE AND FALL OF CHARLESTON 267 

sent out even then by the only way which remained open 
— a perilous passage by boat, across the Cooper River to 
" Hobcaw," a place near the mouth of the Wando River. 
Those who remained were kept (especially after a nurse 
had been killed with a baby in her arms) in the cellars be- 
neath the houses. And the cellars in Charlestown are par- 
ticularly damp and disagreeable from the lowness of the 
land. 

A memento of the siege that still remains is the arm- 
less figure of Mr. Pitt. The arm was carried away by 
a shell from a battery on James Island, known as the 
"Watermelon battery," which did much harm to the lower 
part of the town. Another, which was destroyed in the 
great fire of 1861, was a large house in Tradd Street, then 
belonging to Mr. Ferguson, a member of the Council. 
A ball from the battery at the mouth of Wappoo passed 
between two iron balusters of a balcony, bending them 
outward, and went on its way. The balusters were 
never straightened, and all children were told the tale. 

The horror of the time was greatly increased when the 
British began throwing red-hot balls and terrible contriv- 
ances called " carcasses " from their mortars. A carcass 
was an iron frame which carried combustibles and burst 
into blaze as it fell. These things, rising high in air above 
the low earthworks and falling in every part of the town, 
spread desolation. So many of the houses were of wood 
that the effect was terrible. The engineers told General 
Lincoln that the place must fall. 

Lincoln then told the Governor that the town must be 
given up and advised him to leave, in order that the State 
might not go with it, — that some government might be 
preserved. Rutledge indignantly refused; he would not 
leave the people in their extremity. But Lincoln and the 
officers and Council persisted, — pointing out the impos- 
sibility of saving the town, especially as an officer, General 



268 CHARLESTON 

Duportail, had just arrived, sent by General Washington, 
to advise, and also to say that no assistance would be 
sent ; and that Lord Rawdon, with a large reenforcement, 
was coming to Sir Henry Clinton. 

Before the Legislature had adjourned it had delegated: — 

" Until ten days after its next session, to the Governor 
John Rutledge Esqr. and such of his Council as he could 
conveniently consult, power to do everything necessary for 
the public good, except taking away the life of a citizen 
without a legal trial." From this Rutledge was commonly 
called " the Dictator." 

With this individual authority, the officers urged, the 
Governor might keep alive resistance in the State, perhaps 
raise new forces; surrendered with the town, all would be 
lost. It was the right policy, and Rutledge went, taking 
with him three of his Council. The Lieutenant-governor, 
Thomas Bee, was at the North attending the Congress, and 
Christopher Gadsden was appointed to act in his stead: 
" To satisfy the citizens and explain the circumstances." 

Then Lincoln held a council of war and proposed to 
evacuate the town with the Continentals, and with such of 
the militia as could go. A debate arose. The general 
had not the command of his officers and the language was 
vehement. Colonel C. C. Pinckney, "with less than his 
usual courtesy," exclaimed : — 

" I will not say that if the enemy attempt to carry our 
lines by storm we shall be able to resist them successfully; 
but I am convinced that we shall cripple the army before 
us, that although we may not live to enjoy the benefits 
ourselves, yet to the United States they will be incalcu- 
lably great. Considerations of self are out of the question; 
they cannot influence any member of this council. My 
voice is for rejecting all terms of capitulation and for con- 
tinuing hostilities to the last extremity." 

Spoken as a gallant young soldier fighting for his 



SIEGE AND FALL OF CHARLESTON 269 

hearthstone; but although John Laurens, Colonel Hender- 
son, and others supported him, military policy prevailed, 
and the evacuation was decided. But they had reckoned 
without the new Lieutenant-governor — Gadsden had no 
idea of resigning his own town at the bidding of a military 
officer. He absolutely refused, and the members of his 
Council — his particular friends — vehemently supported 
him, and roused the populace. There was danger of an 
emeute! The mob, called in, told Lincoln that if he 
attempted to withdraw his forces, they would open the 
gates to the enemy and cut off his retreat, and Lincoln 
was not the man to resist a mob. Soldiers say that he 
should have paid no attention to these proceedings, and 
have gone his own way, that the civil authority had no 
place at that moment, and that the general should have 
asserted his own. But Gadsden, who claimed, mistakenly, 
to control the militia, was a man of far stronger intellect 
and will than Lincoln, and, unfortunately in this case, dom- 
inated him completely. The passage to Hobcaw was in 
another week seized and closed; there was no longer any 
hope of saving the army, — capitulation alone remained. 

Even that was postponed, and Clinton's second (more 
severe) offer of terms again rejected. 

What was the object of thus continuing an evidently 
hopeless struggle it is now impossible to say. Two 
months of desperate resistance might have satisfied any 
one that the point of honour was saved, especially when 
the English flag waved over Fort Moultrie, and Tarleton 
had fallen upon a body of horse at Biggin Bridge, com- 
manded by General Isaac Huger, and cut it to pieces, 
thus destroying the last hope of relief to the garrison. 

That the condition of things was known in the town is 
shown by a mortifying circumstance. General Lincoln 
desiring to communicate with the Governor, it was deter- 
mined that Mr. Edward Rutledge should make the peril- 



270 CHARLESTON 

ous passage by way of Hobcaw, and endeavour to reach his 
brother. The passage was perilous because both roads 
and rivers were in possession of the enemy and capture 
was more than probable. He was to take a message, not 
a letter; the experience of the year before had shown the 
danger of captured letters. But Mr. Benjamin Smith, a 
gentleman of reputation, and a very devoted husband, 
requested Mr. Rutledge to take a letter to his wife from 
whom he had long been parted, assuring him that it con- 
tained only private family affairs. Mr. Rutledge unwar- 
ily consented, not reflecting probably upon the elasticity 
of the phrase " family affairs." 

He and his companion Colonel Malmedy were both taken, 
and the letter when carried to headquarters was found to 
be so interesting that it was printed, enclosed in empty 
shells, and thrown into the town ! 

There it was quickly and secretly printed and scattered 
abroad as handbills. It gave a truthful but despairing 
account of the condition of the defence, and must have been 
most cheerful reading for Sir Henry Clinton. " Nothing 
remains to comfort me but the hope of saving my life " — 
" this letter will run great risque as it will be surrounded 
on all sides, but I know the person to whose care it is com- 
mitted, and feel for your uneasy situation, I could not 
but trust it." " Assure yourself that I shall shortly see 
you — as nothing prevents Lincoln's surrender but a 
point of honour of holding out to the last extremity. This 
is nearly at hand as provisions will soon fail." 

Such a confession of impending disaster, written by a 
prominent gentleman, could but increase the anxiety of 
the populace — and the confidence of the enemy. The 
fire the next morning was brisker than ever. The way 
in which this letter was printed and disseminated, showed 
that there were many traitors within the walls. 

Moultrie's simple and straightforward accounts of this 



SIEGE AND FALL OF CHARLESTON 271 

time are interesting. How the earthworks were topped 
by sand-bags piled, with interstices between, through 
which the defenders fired, and they being good shots gen- 
erally hit their mark whereas the British, " being regulars," 
fired in platoons, frequently too low or too high, and wasted 
much powder and shot. How they had to watch, not only 
the lines, but also all the long water front, where it was 
so easy to make a landing. How the British, after a time, 
began throwing numbers of small shot and shells from 
their mortars, which scattered and were very troublesome. 
He himself was nearly killed in his bed, for being thor- 
oughly worn out he had lain down to rest for a few 
hours when hearing a more violent cannonade he jumped 
up, and while "hurrying on his regimentals" a ball crashed 
through the roof and on the bed from which he had just 
arisen. 

He never tells of his own gallant acts (but Drayton 
and Garden say that they were many and that he was 
always perfectly " cool and unruffled "), but of those of 
others. How well the cannoneers behaved, standing to 
their guns under the most frightful fire. How the lads 
insisted on doing their share, Captain Heyward's young 
brother of fifteen (Nathaniel) carrying powder for his 
guns. How John Laurens cut up the rare exotic shrubs 
in his father's garden to make fascines. How in a sortie 
his aide Captain Philip Neyle was killed. " Then my 
poor brother was killed" (Thomas Moultrie). And how, 
a huge shell bursting within ten feet of the powder maga- 
zine in Cumberland Street, they, for fear lest worse might 
ensue, took out at night ten thousand pounds of powder, 
and carried it to the vaults of the Exchange in Broad 
Street, where they bricked it up securely, " and although 
the Provost was next to it, the British never discovered 
it, and we found it there when we retook the town." 

One wonders if he remembered that other night, when 



272 



CHARLESTON 



like a party of mischievous boys they had carried powder 
through the streets, and hidden it from Governor Bull ! 




The Old Exchange, Foot of Broad Street 

At last the trenches were not more than twenty-five 
feet from the walls ; Clinton had warned them that he 
would not be responsible for what might happen to a town 



SIEGE AND FALL OF CHARLESTON 273 

taken by storm, but they held out. Then came a night of 
horror. 

From one hundred and eighty to two hundred pieces 
of heavy artillery were fired at the same time, while mor- 
tars from both sides threw an immense number of shells. 
" It was a glorious sight to see the shells like meteors 
crossing each other, and bursting in the air ; it appeared 
as if the stars were falling to the earth. The fire was 
incessant almost the whole night ; cannon balls whizzing 
and shells bursting continually among the combatants ; 
ammunition chests and temporary magazines blowing up ; 
great guns bursting, and wounded men groaning among 
the lines. It was a dreadful night. It was our last great 
effort, but it availed us nothing." 

Three days before Gadsden had declared that the 
women would walk unterrified among the shells rather 
than give up the town, but this night was too much for 
the nerves of the people. On the 10th the citizens begged 
to be surrendered ; they could endure no more. Gadsden, 
who would rather have died, was overruled and Lincoln 
— bullied to the very last — made what poor terms he 
could, now that the enemy had so entirely the better of 
him. 

His soldierly demand to be allowed the honours of war 
was refused ; he was not to march out with drums beating 
and colours flying, but to pile his arms in humble fashion, 
and this hurt him sorely. But on the whole the terms, 
if observed, were not bad. The Continentals were to be 
prisoners of war, and treated as such. That is, fed and 
lodged like soldiers, and exchanged as opportunity offered. 
The militia were to be " allowed to go to their respective 
homes, and should be regarded as prisoners of war upon 
parole, which parole, so long as they observed it, should 
secure them from being molested in their property by the 
British troops." All civil officers and all persons then in 



274 CHARLESTON 

the town, whether they had borne arms or not, were to be 
prisoners on parole. Lincoln tried to get more liberal 
terms for the citizens, but was assured that the time for 
negotiation had gone by ; the last offer was the ultima- 
tum, — made simply "from motives of humanity." There 
was nothing more to be done. 

On the 12th of May the garrison marched to a given 
point and piled arms. 

" Where is your second division ? " asked the officer 
appointed to receive them of Moultrie, who was in com- 
mand of this painful ceremony. " There is none," replied 
Moultrie; " these are all the men we have." The English- 
man was surprised. "Sir," he said, "you have made a 
gallant defence. But you had a great many rascals 
among you " (naming persons) " who came out at night 
and gave us information of what was passing in the town." 
They were very exacting about the militia ; requiring 
every man however old, sick, or even crippled, to come 
out — their aim was to include the entire population. 
" All were good enough to swell a conqueror's list." The 
Continental officers were sent to Haddrell's Point across 
the Cooper River, the soldiers were kept in prison-ships 
in the harbour, the militia disbanded were allowed to go 
home, and the town lay bound, — a shackled thing in the 
power of the enemy. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE CAPTURED CITY. MARION'S MEN 

FOR the next three years the part of Charles Town was 
that of a woman, — the proverbially hard part of a 
woman in war time. 

No more was she to know the excitement, the joy, or 
the terror of battle ; she had only to watch, and wait, and 
pray for succour from the deeds of others. 

Every male within her walls was a paroled prisoner of 
war. Many of them were sent as disbanded militia to 
their homes in the country. The Continental officers were 
across the river at Haddrell's Point, the soldiers confined in 
prison hulks in the harbour. 

The bewildered citizens tried to recover some sort of 
position. The consistent royalists — the Roupells, Wraggs, 
Gardens, etc., — who had suffered because of their loyalty, 
had a right to rejoice in the triumph ; but there were 
others, less candid, whose opinions, one writer says, " varied 
according to the success of the moment," who were anx- 
ious to enjoy it also. About two hundred citizens, many 
of whom had, probably from necessity, been in the patriot 
ranks, but none of whom were of any special distinction, 
offered an address, declaring that they had always been well- 
wishers of the British monarchy ; that they were pleased 
to find themselves again his Majesty's subjects; and prayed 
his protection accordingly. 

These " addressers," as they were scornfully called, ex- 
pressed little more than many others felt, but were ashamed 
to bring forward at that juncture; namely, that they would 

275 



276 CHARLESTON 

be glad to sit in peace, and did not care particularly 
whether the peace were assured by King or Congress. 
The " addressers " were much contemned by their stouter- 
hearted compatriots, but as time wore on many of these 
were compelled to do much the same thing. 

Further tests and oaths were soon imposed; commis- 
sioners of sequestration were appointed; the phrase " shall 
be protected in person and property," the promise con- 
tained in the parole papers, was found to be susceptible 
of very different interpretations. 

The citizens found themselves exposed to troubles of 
many sorts. The hope of saving some of their effects in- 
duced many ladies to remain in town. They were often 
compelled either to give up their houses, or to share them 
with British officers and their often very objectionable 
retinues. 

Miles Brewton's house, since his death the property 
of his sister Mrs. Motte, was at once taken as headquarters 
by Sir Henry Clinton, and was occupied by successive 
commanders-in-chief during the rest of the war. Moultrie 
speaks of being received by Clinton " at Mrs. Motte's house 
in the drawing room up stairs." 

Sir Henry, and after him Lord Rawdon, did not eject 
Mrs. Motte ; on the contrary they " requested " her to re- 
main, insisted upon her taking the head of the table, 
behaving with perfect courtesy and always speaking of 
themselves as her "guests." The requests of a conqueror 
are commands ; the lady from policy played the part of host- 
ess, being often complimented on her admirable housekeep- 
ing. She, however, kept her three pretty daughters tight 
locked in the garret, guarded by a faithful " mauma," who 
would smuggle them dainties and dessert in her apron. 
When at last Mrs. Motte obtained permission to retire to 
her plantation, Rawdon thanked her with scrupulous 
politeness for her "hospitality," but "regretted that he 



THE CAPTURED CITY 



277 



had not been permitted to make the acquaintance of her 
family! " Rawdon's reputation was none of the best, and 
the old lady was quite right. 

Lord Cornwallis established himself without the town 
at Drayton Hall, the owner of which, William Henry 
Drayton, was then in Philadelphia attending the Congress. 
He too was courteous to the ladies, but it was said that he 



s? s^sfe^ 



- -t £)*&&■■?:■ ~.<y. 



teJ®L& 



JSillifeip 




The " Provost " 
The Cellar of the Old Exchange used as a Prison during the Revolution. 

kept them on very short commons, doling out the scantiest 
rations to the family and servants. 

Drayton Hall, the only house on the right bank of 
Ashley River which escaped the flames of 1865, still has 
the letters K. W. cut deep in one of its brick pillars, the 
work of a Hessian soldier, who supposed those to be the 
initials of his commander's name, Korn Wallis. 



278 CHABLESTON 

These were the chiefs, who, when they pleased, were 
courtly gentlemen; others were not so "vastly civil." 
Many ladies were forcibly ejected, and it was better to be 
ejected than to be obliged to share a house with odious per- 
sons ; such as Major Hanger who brought in animals, 
dogs aud monkeys, and vile women to insult the ladies. 

Mrs. Izard pleaded to be allowed to remain in her own 
dwelling on account of the illness of her child, and was 
driven from it with a dying boy in her arms. Mrs. C. C. 
Pinckney and her children were turned out, that Colonel 
Balfour, commandant of the town, might take possession 
of the house which had so long been the residence of 
English Governors. Mrs. Heyward, wife of the signer 
of the Declaration of Independence, left her windows dark 
when an illumination was ordered in honour of the victory. 
Her sister was desperately ill at the moment, but the low- 
est rabble was encouraged to pelt the house with filth and 
obscene abuse. All these were the wives of Continental 
officers and had a right to protection. These things were 
charged to the account of Rawdon. 

Tarleton, the dashing sabreur, was more studied in his 
affronts ; the poor lady upon whom he was quartered was 
only allowed to keep one small room for herself and 
family. She prayed to be allowed the use of another ; 
but the answer, conveyed in a polite note, was that 
"reflection convinces me that enemies should not be 
allowed any convenience." 

The chief terror of the town was the " Provost," the 
damp dark cellar under the Exchange, next to the hiding- 
place of Moultrie's powder. 

In this single room were confined the lowest criminals 
and malefactors. Men and women together, and any 
one, however respectable, against whom any complaint 
might be brought. There they were kept awaiting trial, 
and trial was often long delayed. The story of two hon- 



THE CAPTURED CITY 279 

ourable ladies, who were immured in this loathsome dun- 
geon on the most frivolous pretext, is shocking. 

Still, on the whole, compared with other conquests, the 
condition of the conquered was not, at first, so bad. The 
Continental officers at Haddrell's, although crowded, were 
well fed and lodged, their families were allowed to visit 
them, and they had some privileges. 

These, however, were curtailed after a dinner given on 
the Fourth of July, at which the " sentiments " and toasts 
were too patriotic and too fervently expressed. Moultrie, 
who as senior officer exercised a sort of protective sur- 
veillance over the others, interposed in their behalf, but the 
rule was made stricter. Still the fact that they could give 
such a dinner at all argues a certain amount of freedom. 

Moultrie apologizes quaintly for his comrades. "It is 
no wonder they are sometimes quarrelsome and behave 
badly. They are crowded together and are, some of them, 
very uncouth gentlemen." 

Moultrie himself and Colonel C. C. Pinckney, as field 
officers (Colonel Laurens was soon exchanged), were quar- 
tered at Snee Farm, a place about a mile from Haddrell's. 
They could sometimes see their friends, and were allowed 
to have their own servants, to receive letters (which were 
generally opened), and to have books and papers. The 
Gazette, published by authority, was regularly sent to 
them, so that they could read every misfortune of their 
countrymen, and the jeers of the garrison wits at their 
woes. It is certain that plenty of rebellious news leaked 
in also, but it was many months before anything occurred 
that could raise their spirits. 

A letter from Colonel Pinckney is given, as showing 
the way of life and the resolute determination to keep 
an equal mind under these trying circumstances. Few 
men would interest themselves so warmly in the educa- 
tion of a nephew of fourteen at any time. It is to his 
sister Mrs. Horry of Hampton, South Santee. 



280 CHARLESTON 

" Christ Church, Octr. 8, 1782. 

" My dear Harriott, I enclose you a Letter for your 
son ; I wish Mr. Horry would purchase Goldsmith's 
Roman History for him that he may read it this winter 
at Santee if you carry him there. I see an abridgment 
of Goldsmith is advertised, I do not mean he should read 
that, but the work at large in two volumes octavo. Let 
him read the first Volume which brings down the history 
to the usurpation of Augustus, over and over again, till 
he is perfectly master of it, before he begins the History 
of the Emperors ; and when he has finished both, you 
may then let him read Rollin's Antient History. These 
with his Latin and French will find him employment 
during the Winter ; but if he should still have any spare 
time you may teach him Geography, — Guthrie's Geo- 
graphical Grammar I believe is the best. Exercise him 
frequently in writing down from his Memory any remark- 
able event that he has read, attend carefully to his style 
and language, let him never make use of an ungrammati- 
cal expression without amending it for him, and always 
accustom him to make use of the best and aptest words 
the language will afford. By no means neglect the mak- 
ing him frequently get by heart select pieces of English 
Poetry, your own taste will direct you in the choice of 
them, but be sure to let them be such as he can under- 
stand ; and oblige him to repeat them aloud with great 
distinctness and proper emphasis. 

" I am informed my Wife and Children were turned out 
of my House last Tuesday, pray let me know what is now 
the pretence for this manoeuvre, and whether my Books, 
Papers and Cloaths are all seized. 

" I am very glad we did not know of the wretched fare 
my Brother had at Camden ; it would have added consid- 
erably to my uneasiness for him ; fat pork I apprehend is 
not the proper diet for a wounded soldier ; we are however 



THE CAPTURED CITY 281 

exceedingly obliged to Mrs. Clay and the Ladies at whose 
house he staid for their care and tenderness to him ; Dr. 
Hay, and the Gentleman of the Faculty [English surgeons] 
I am informed have shown him the greatest attention, I 
hope my Mother has recovered of her sick headache and 
that my dear Sally and Children are well. The failure of 
the inoculation in my little Charles will I suppose prevent 
my seeing my Sally as soon as I expected, for as neither 
Mrs. Moultrie nor any of the People here have had the 
small pox, he must be free of Infection before she can 
bring him. I received safe the Blanket and Cloth for 
Tobey, also a Baskett of Biscuit, for which I am much 
obliged to my Mother ; pray give my duty to her and my 
love to my dear Sally & Children, my Nephews & Nieces, 

Mr. & Mrs. A. Middleton, Rutledge, Dr. & Mrs. 

Drayton, Mr. Horry & , and be assured that I am 

"Your affectionate Brother, 

"Charles Cotesworth Pinckney." 

"I also received a Bottle of Vinegar and Letters from 
Mrs. Clay & my Brother to my Mother : Now he is in a 
way of getting proper nourishment, I have no doubt but 
that he will recover fast. I shall be glad of one ounce 
more of Bark which I think will secure me from any more 
Fever this season. I have not had any Fever since the 
first of September. Both Genl. & Mrs. Moultrie neglect 
taking Bark, and have now a return of their fever. I re- 
turn Mrs. Clay's and my Brother's letters; she writes 
charmingly, — I cannot sufficiently express how much 
I am obliged to her for the Care of my Brother." 

This letter is addressed : 

"Mrs. Daniel Horry, 

"No. m Broad Street. 

"By Genl. Moultrie's 
Servant Fortune" 



282 CHARLESTON 

The passage referring to "my Brother at Camden" re- 
lates to Major Tom Pinckney, severely wounded at that 
battle. 

The size of town lots then is shown by the fact that the 
house at 66 Broad was on the site of the Cathedral, now 
about 126. 

The British had great hopes of persuading the Continen- 
tal privates confined in the prison hulks to join their army, 
and at first they were well treated ; but severity increased 
as time went on and they resisted all inducements. 

The sick were shockingly neglected in direct violation 
of the parole conditions. 

For a time the thoughts of the people dwelt upon res- 
cue. Would the Governor be able to raise a force to de- 
liver them? Would the Northern States send troops to 
their assistance? Gradually all expectation failed. Two 
bodies of troops which the Governor had collected upon 
leaving town were routed by Tarleton, — and another 
was also destroyed near the borders of North Carolina ; — 
and then for a time hope seemed dead. 

For a little while the country appeared better off than 
the town. The militia at least were -at home, could care 
for their families, and sow their seed ; and although the 
Continentals were in prison bounds, the women took up 
the charge and kept things going. 

Many a lady sallied forth at daybreak, went the rounds 
of the stable, barnyard, and field ; directed the ploughing 
of corn and the hoeing of rice, wondering much if husband 
or son would be at home in time to harvest the crops, 
springing green in this melancholy May. 

This curiously quiescent state endured but for a 
moment ; Clinton, preparing to go North, issued proclama- 
tions clearly defining the position of the vanquished. His 
demands did not probably appear unreasonable to him. 

A man must be for the King or against him. If for 



THE CAPTURED CITY. 283 

him, then military service was clearly the duty of the 
young man ; faithful support, of the old. Such service 
would be rewarded by " effectual countenance, protection 
and support," "peace, liberty, and security of property." 
But if a man were against his Majesty, then his portion 
was "the most exemplary severit}^ and confiscation of 
property." 

Not more than might have been expected, but for the 
parole granted not more than a month before. That parole, 
it was distinctly stated, was to endure while the war lasted, 
and by it those who remained at home and observed the 
conditions should be protected in person and property. 

The war was certainly not over, and yet these new con- 
ditions were imposed. The British expected thus to crush 
the rebellious spirit, and only roused it to activity. 

Many a man who would have sat quiet and listened to 
the clash of arms far off, when called upon to choose, rode 
to the American instead of the English camp, and found 
his attachment to the cause grow as he suffered for it. 
Even those who having great possessions made obeisance 
to preserve them, did so under protest more or less public, 
and, holding that the bad faith of the English commander 
exonerated them from obligations of sincerity, gave aid 
and comfort when possible to their countrymen. 

The reign of terror began — Tarleton and his "Loyal 
Legion," a fine colonel and splendid soldiers without a 
single restraining scruple, traversed the State from the sea 
to the mountains, slaying and hanging; Major Wemyss, 
whose favourite weapon was the torch, Ferguson, and other 
leaders, were commanding regulars ; many bands of Tories 
were equally active. Lord Rawdon commanded in the 
interior. Lord Cornwallis was, after the departure of 
Sir Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief. Instead of being 
intimidated the people were infuriated. The old Scotch 
proverb of " a burnt byre a blazing brand " was fulfilled. 



284 CHARLESTON 

The Tories, zealous in their well-paid devotion to the 
Crown, and sustained by the power of England, were 
numerous ; they rose, turned upon their neighbours, and 
especially in the middle and upper parts of the State, the 
war assumed the most terrible fratricidal character. 
What Sir Henry's proclamations had begun, the outrages 
of his officers enhanced, and then in an evil hour for them- 
selves they burned down the home of Sumter at Claremont, 
Craven County ; and raided the parish of St. John's Berke- 
ley, the birthplace of Francis Marion. 

Sumter and Marion had both been accidentally absent 
from the siege of Charles Town, but Sumter, hearing that 
Governor Rutledge was on his way to North Carolina, left 
home to join him only a few hours before Tarleton (who 
had nearly captured Rutledge himself) reached his place. 

The Sumters had been in great domestic trouble. They 
had recently lost several children, and Mrs. Sumter, who 
belonged to the soldierly Cantey family, had been smitten 
by paralysis. When the British arrived, she and a niece 
were the only persons in the house ; the only remaining 
child, a little boy of twelve, having rushed off with the 
best horse to hide it in a hollow of the hills. 

The house, stable, and barn were soon plundered of every 
desirable thing, and were then set on fire. The young lady 
appealed to the soldiers to save her utterly helpless aunt, 
and two of them, lifting her in her invalid chair, carried 
her into the yard and set her down to watch the blazing 
house. 

Struck with her composure and fortitude one man, more 
compassionate than his fellows, brought her a ham from 
her own smoke-house, telling her that he gave it to keep 
her from starving ; and hid it under the cushions of her 
chair, lest his comrades should take it away. This was 
the sole pity shown. The little boy, who had safely con- 
cealed his horse, climbed a tree and saw the burning of his 



MARION'S MEN 



285 



home. The place, near the present Stateburg, keeps the 
name of " The Ruins " to this day. 

Sumter, commissioned by the Governor, first as colonel, 







y^ 



The House at the Corner of Tradd and Orange Streets, from 
which it is said general marion fell 

afterward as general, became, according to Lord Corn- 
wallis, " the greatest plague " of the British in the South. 
His fiery courage, and willingness to fight against any 
odds, gained him the sobriquet of the " Game Cock." 



286 CHARLESTON 

It is impossible to estimate the value to the American 
cause of that broken leg which occasioned Marion's es- 
cape from the universal captivity at Charles Town. The 
habits of that day may be mildly described as convivial, 
and when a gentleman gave a dinner party, he often 
turned the key upon his guests until they had done due 
honour to his Madeira and Port. 

Such joviality did not suit Marion, a small, spare man, 
of sober abstemious habits; and finding himself thus 
locked in one evening, he tried to escape by letting him- 
self down from a window. Unluckily, — or rather 
luckily for his country, — he miscalculated the distance, 
fell and broke his leg. Being thus incapacitated when 
the siege was about to begin, he was sent home to St. 
John's to be cured, and so was one of the three Conti- 
nental officers (the others being General Isaac Huger and 
Major Thomas Pinckney) who were not surrendered by 
the capitulation of the town. 

The house which used to be shown as the one from 
which he fell is that built by Captain John Stuart, at 
the corner of Tradd and Orange streets. General Moul- 
trie says, "the house next Roupell's." Roupell's house, 
pulled down about thirty years ago, was at the other end 
of the same square on Friend Street, and it is very 
probable that there was no dwelling between them at that 
time, when the lots were still very large. 

He too made his way into North Carolina to the Gov- 
ernor, who had gone to confer with General Gates, " the 
hero of Saratoga," then advancing to meet Lord Rawdon 
and fight the battle of Camden. Rutledge sent him back 
with a colonel's commission in his pocket, and orders to 
collect what men he could and join Gates's army. But 
Gates would have none of him. He could not imagine 
that the few score shabby men and boys dressed in any 
sort of garments, with little black leathern caps, could be 






MARION'S MEN 287 

of any service to his well-armed and uniformed force. 
Baron de Kalb, the second in command, the gentleman 
who had come with La Fayette to fight for America, re- 
ceived him cordially and appreciatively. But Gates, to 
get rid of the poor-looking party, sent him off with orders 
to " destroy every boat on the river " (the Wateree River, 
on which Camden is situated) "by which the British 
might escape to Charles Town." It was soon no question 
of the British escaping. Gates's fortune was as bad as 
his lieutenant Lincoln's had been. 

The battle, badly planned and badly fought, was lost ; 
the brave De Kalb was killed; Gates, who had been full 
of confidence, fled ignominiously, and the American cause 
was in even worse plight than before. 

The loss of De Kalb was much deplored. He had 
found many friends in the country. His breastplate of 
polished steel was long preserved at Middleton Place, 
and the town of Camden keeps his helmet and has erected 
a monument to his memory. 

Marion's shabby jacket had saved him from sharing the 
calamity. 

The deeds of Sumter, as of Pickens and other well- 
known leaders, were generally performed in the middle or 
up country, and have only an indirect influence upon the 
fortunes of Charles Town, but Marion is the hero of the 
parishes. News of him, of his " Men " and their daring 
exploits, brought, no one knew how, through the lines, 
kept hope alive even in the darkest hour of the distressed 
town. 

Distressed it certainly was ; for, the measures already 
taken for forcing the allegiance of the leading men hav- 
ing failed, Lord Cornwallis determined to remove those 
whose resolution he could not break, and whose example 
strengthened the patriotic spirit. 

Accordingly one Sunday morning thirty gentlemen were 



288 CHARLESTON 

aroused from their slumbers, arrested, and taken to the 
prison of the Exchange, and afterward to an armed vessel 
in the harbour. 

Among the prisoners were Lieutenant-governor Gads- 
den, Alexander Moultrie, brother to the general, Thomas 
Heyward, and Edward Rutledge, Dr. Ramsay, the future 
historian, and other prominent citizens. No reason was 
assigned for the arrest, and the prisoners who, having 
been taken within the walls of Charles Town, were confess- 
edly still on parole, could imagine no reason therefor. 
They were enlightened soon enough, however, when they 
were informed that " Lord Cornwallis being assured that 
by their treasonable correspondence they had promoted 
and fermented the late Rebellion in the Country," he had 
determined to change their place of residence to St. 
Augustine, where they would be transported accordingly. 
They sent memorials and remonstrances, of course, but no 
answers were vouchsafed. But they were told that those 
who considered this proceeding any infringement of the 
Articles of Capitulation would be considered as prisoners 
of war, and as such be delivered at St. Augustine. 

This bribe to acquiescence was skilful, but the prisoners 
rejected it. They knew, and Cornwallis knew, that it 
was a violation of the terms of capitulation and that he 
was simply using the right of the strongest. Moultrie 
wrote this bold and sensible letter from his confinement 
at Snee Farm : — 

" Sir : On perusing the paper of the 29th of August, 
of Robertson McDonald and Cameron, published by 
authority, to my astonishment I find a paragraph to this 
effect ' The following is a correct list of the prisoners 
sent on board the Sandwich yesterday morning,' and 
underneath the names of the most respectable gentlemen 
inhabitants of this State, most of whose characters I am 



MABION'S MEN 289 

so well acquainted with, that I cannot believe they would 
have been guilty of any breach of their parole, or any 
article of capitulation, or done anything to justify so vig- 
orous a proceeding against them. I therefore think it 
my duty as the senior Continental officer prisoner under 
the capitulation, to demand a release of those gentlemen, 
particularly such as are entitled to the benefit of that act. 
"This harsh proceeding demands my particular atten- 
tion, and I do, therefore, in behalf of the United States of 
America require that they be admitted immediately to 
return to their paroles ; as their being hurried on board 
a prison ship (and I fear without being heard) is a viola- 
tion of the ninth article of the capitulation. If this de- 
mand cannot be complied with, I am to request that I may 
have leave to send an officer to Congress to present this 
grievance, that they may interpose in behalf of those gen- 
tlemen in the manner they may think proper. 
"I am etc. 

"William Moultrie." 

No direct answer was returned, but Balfour, through a 
subordinate, informed the general that such letters would 
not be received ; and Moultrie knew that argument was 
vain with the man who commanded twenty legions. 

Not one of these thirty-three men (for ten more were 
soon added to their number) made the slightest conces- 
sion of principle. They protested that they had faithfully 
kept the parole oath, but they made no profession of 
allegiance to the Crown. Another parole was now re- 
quired of them with especial reference to St. Augustine. 
After consultation all the prisoners except Gadsden 
decided to accept it, but he, with the fiery independence 
of his nature, positively refused, saying that he would 
enter into no new contract with men who had once de- 
ceived him. The British commanders had disregarded 



290 CHARLESTON 

the capitulation of Charles Town and he would trust them 
no more. " Think better of it," said Colonel Glazier, 
the English officer who received them on landing, "a 
second refusal will fix your destiny. A dungeon will be 
your habitation." "Prepare it," said the brave old man 
(for he was an old man by this time). " I will give no 
parole, so help me God." He was accordingly immured 
in the dark, damp dungeon in the old Spanish castle of 
San Marco (now most inappropriately called Fort Marion) 
and remained there for nearly eleven months. 

The other prisoners were lodged in the town, were al- 
lowed to have their own servants to attend them, and to 
supply themselves with comforts and even with some 
luxuries. A silver tea-pot which made the voyage to and 
returned from St. Augustine is still in the possession of Mr. 
Edward Rutledge's great granddaughter. The English 
Governor Tonyn, however, kept a watchful eye upon them, 
and finding that they had arranged for divine service 
"according to their rebellious principles" absolutely for- 
bade such a mischievous form of religion, but offered 
seats in the parish church where they " might suitably pray 
for his Majesty." 

Judging by the following letter such prayers would 
have brought his luckless Majesty no good. It is from 
Samuel Prioleau, descendant of the first emigrant Hugue- 
not Pastor Elias Prioleau, and son of the lady whose 
many-coloured funeral was one of the first evidences of 
resistance to " Ministerial oppression." 

It is to his wife, who had been a Miss Cordes, also a 
Huguenot. It may be as well to explain that in South- 
ern speech " a pavillion " is a mosquito net. 

" St. Augustine, 19th June, 1781. 
"Dear Katy: I am well and have reed, yours of the 5th 
of May, but am glad to find that yr. mother and Katy 



MARION'S MEN 291 

Cordes " (a cousin) " are with you and they are well of 
the small pox. 

" I have reed, a Pavillion but no Stockings. 

"Nothing has given me greater pleasure than to hear of 
our Friends behaving in so noble and spirited a manner 
when they were put on Board the Prison ship, and that 
my Father and Phil will join them. We that are here I 
find by Balfour's Letter are also Hostages. 

" If anything in that way should happen to me that is to 
say being hang or shot, which I believe they dare not do, 
I hope my sons will revenge it when they are able, and 
never be at peace with Great Britain. 

" We hear that the Prisoners familys have been insulted. 
I beg as a particular favour if any has insulted you or any 
of my family you will let me know who it was, and what 
was the insult, as I think I stand a chance of being 
relieved and may meet them in some part of the world. 
Beg you will remember me to all Friends. I am Dear Katy 

"Afly. yours, 

"S. Prioleau, Jr." 

Address : 

"Mrs. Catharine Prioleau. 
"In (blot, illegible.) 

"S.C." 

It is delightful to come across so frank an expression 
of the natural man, free from the phrases with which the 
people of that day usually dressed out their epistles. 
This stiff-necked Huguenot stands by his cause, wants 
revenge on his enemies, and says so plainly. 

" Phil " was put on board the prison-ship. There is no 
mention of the father in the printed lists. These hun- 
dred and thirty militia officers were arrested and kept in 
the hulks as hostages for the good treatment of Tories 
who might fall into the hands of the Americans, and were 



292 CHARLESTON 

clearly informed by Balfour that their lives depended on 
the safety of their enemies. 

To their honour be it said that these officers, thus con- 
fined, wrote to General Greene, enclosing a copy of Bal- 
four's letter and saying that " should it fall to the lot of 
any or all of them to be made victims agreeable to the 
menaces therein contained they had only to regret that 
their blood could not be disposed of more to the advan- 
tage of the glorious cause to which they had adhered." 

The next command for Charles Town was that only 
persons who had taken the oath of allegiance should be 
allowed to carry on any trade or industry for the support 
of their families ; or should collect a debt, or require pay- 
ment for goods or service ; but any one might sue them, 
and they would have no redress. The Commissioners of 
Sequestration, of whom John Cruden was the chief, were 
authorized to seize and sell all property belonging to 
rebels (even that of Continental Officers, especially pro- 
tected by the Articles of Capitulation), except a small 
portion which "from motives of humanity" was to be 
reserved for wives and children. 

This pocket pinch did more than the banishment of the 
leaders to break the spirit. 

Many men submitted and took protection, some to gain 
liberty to work and save their families from destitution, 
others, " lords of ancient halls," to save their estates. 
Perhaps the wonder was that there were not more of 
these, for many held out obstinately : and Commissioner 
Cruden published numerous advertisements of the estates, 
real and personal, of these indomitable men. 

The blow fell very heavily upon the negroes ; for those 
belonging to rebels were driven down in gangs to the 
wharves and shipped to the West Indies. And those of 
" protected men," being more secretly induced to leave 
their masters, thronged to the British camps, where many 



MARION'S MEN 293 

died of smallpox, and the rest also found themselves sent 
to the docks. 

The spoil obtained by these measures was immense. 
Two thousand negroes were shipped, Dr. Ramsay says, 
at one embarkation ; and Mr. Bancroft puts the value of 
the property divided by the English and Hessian com- 
missioners at three hundred thousand pounds sterling. 

All the time the English were working to persuade the 
officers and men to leave the Continental for the British 
army. The former Governor, Lord Charles Montagu, had 
returned to what he still called " this Province " and was 
busily engaged in raising a regiment of Americans which 
should be sent to the West Indies, and thus avoid the 
odium of fighting against their countrymen. Offers of 
commissions in this regiment were made to several officers : 
to Moultrie he offered, in a really affectionate letter, his 
own position of colonel. He reminded him of their old 
friendship, and of how natural it is for him to advise, and 
says : — 

" You have now fought bravely in the cause of your 
country for many years, and in my opinion fulfilled the 
duty every individual owes to it. You have had your share 
of hardships and difficulties, and if the contest is still to be 
continued younger hands should now take the toil from 
you. You have now a fair opening of quitting that ser- 
vice with honour and reputation to yourself by going to 
Jamaica with me. The world will readily attribute it to 
the known friendship which has existed between us, and 
by quitting this country for a short time you could avoid 
any disagreeable conversations and might return at your 
leisure to take possession of your estates for yourself and 
family." He then offers the colonelcy. 

The touch of " avoiding disagreeable conversations " is 
delightful ! But although the tempter thus showed him 
the world and the pleasures thereof (and Moultrie was an 



294 CHARLESTON 

honest gentleman who loved the pleasures as well as any 
other man), he rose indignant at the suggestion. His 
" Memoirs " have fortunately preserved the answer, which 
is too good to be mutilated, and which having been lately 
published in McCrady's history is omitted here. 

It should be mentioned that before addressing this 
letter to General Moultrie, Lord Charles had approached 
his son upon the subject. The young man answered at 
once " that he did not dare to carry such a proposition to 
his Father." 

Tempting offers were also made to the two Pinckneys, 
both then prisoners. Their letters are unfortunately lost, 
but Colonel C. C. Pinckney's daughter has recorded one or 
two of her father's answers in a little sketch quoted in 
the " Life of Eliza Pinckney," and therefore not given. 

Major Garden says that one of the British officers, *a 
Captain McMahon, told him, after the war, that he had 
once " attempted to tamper with Col. Pinckney, touching 
with delicacy upon the possibility of a reconciliation with 
our government, hinting on the honours that would be his 
should he declare his approbation of our measures. The 
result was indeed humiliating to me. I was awed into 
silence by the superiority of his patriotic virtue, and felt 
myself degraded by the office I had undertaken." 

No pains were spared to corrupt John Laurens. — It 
need not be said with absolute futility. 

These proposals were more easily made because among 
the British officers were many who had been at school or 
college with the young Carolinians who were now in the 
opposing ranks. Sometimes kind offices were exchanged 
between them, as in the case of the McKenzies. One 
brother, a naval officer, was captured at sea, on his way to 
Savannah, and at once asked to be consigned to the care of 
his old school-fellow, Thomas Pinckney. When Major 
Pinckney, severely wounded at the battle of Camden, fell 



mabion's men 295 

into the hands of the enemy, the other brother, an army 
officer, showed him every attention, and it was owing to 
his entreaties that the English surgeons interested them- 
selves in the case, and saved the leg, which he had nearly 
lost. 

There was a story of two Francis Kinlochs, cousins and 
school-fellows, — one on the British, the other on the 
American side. After some battle they were pursuer 
and pursued. The latter escaped and the former sent his 
cousin a message, " Tell Francis 'tis no wonder he got 
away, — even at Eton he always could outrun me." 

Such good feeling very much mitigated the barbarity 
of war. Garden, after speaking with great severity of 
the " cruelties of Cornwallis, Rawdon, Balfour and Mon- 
crieff, the sword of Tarleton, torch of Prevost and Wemyss, 
rapacity of Cochran, and Prevost," gives a list of honour- 
able exceptions and adds : " The Lt. Colonels St. 
George and Fox, Capt. Steward of the Guards, Wyn- 
yard, McKensie, Charles Morris, the purveyor, all old 
Westminsters, were faithful to old friendships." Some of 
the Loyalists were kind to their oppressed countrymen, 
and in the low country there were few instances of the 
terrible acharnement between Whigs and Tories, which 
for three years made the upper districts — to speak mildly 
■ — a hell. Mr. Freer, of John's Island, was conspicuous 
for humanity in this respect ; and Captain Buckel sent 
two hundred pounds to Johnson at St. Augustine, and 
offered an unlimited letter of credit for the use of the 
other prisoners. He was requited at the close of the war 
by being especially exempted from sequestration and 
amercement. 

In August, twenty-two more exiles were sent to St. 
Augustine, — among them Arthur Middleton. Thus the 
three surviving signers of the " Declaration of Indepen- 
dence " (for Thomas Lynch had been lost at sea on his 



296 CHARLESTON 

way to Cuba, where he was going in search of health) 
were now prisoners in that little Spanish town. 

The leaders safely out of the way, the English imagined 
that some restoration of the pleasures of society might 
allure their obstinate subjects. Many of the officers were, 
as has been said, established in handsome houses; they 
now proceeded to give balls and entertain. 

They met — one is proud to say — with very little suc- 
cess. No such gay doings as the Mischianza ever took 
place in Charlestown. The loyal ladies of course accepted 
gladly the invitations of their gallant hosts, but the 
" Patriotic Fair," to use Moultrie's favourite name, held 
aloof, and it was only almost under compulsion, — when 
an invitation equal to a command compelled attend- 
ance, that any Whig dame or damsel appeared at these 
feasts. 

Mr. Gilmore Simms' romantic novel of " Katharine 
Walton " gives a vivid impression of this curious society, 
where every man and woman was on guard, each striving 
to discover what the opinions of the other really were. 
The British officers of course were true ; but the man 
in the brand-new Tory uniform, apparently one of Fer- 
guson's or Fraser's regiment, might be plotting a double 
treason, or might be one of Marion's men disguised in 
loyal regimentals. He describes a ball given by the 
Commandant Balfour in Colonel Pinckney's East Bay 
house. It had been the talk of the town for weeks before 
it took place, and was talked of for many years by ladies 
who had not been present. 

Balfour, although he could boast of honourable wounds, 
was much fonder of wine and women than of war, and 
was despised even more than he was hated ; but as a host 
he spared no pains to make his ball a brilliant affair. 
One incident long remembered was the accident of the 
chief Royalist belle, Miss Polly Roupell. She was sitting 



MARION'S MEN 297 

in the deep recess of the staircase window, which, lacking 
a button (in those days pulleys were not), was propped 
on the sword of her partner. The officer, suddenly sum- 
moned, hastily withdrew the sword. 

The sash fell full on the arm of the lady, who shrieked 
and fainted from the pain. 

The officer, quick in all things, not waiting to find 
water, seized the bowl which stood near and douched the 
belle with strong rum punch ! The shock revived her 
rapidly, but the arm was broken. A bystander was rude 
enough to declare that it was " great waste of good 
liquor," and Major Harry Barry, the wit and bel esprit of 
the garrison, wrote some gallant lines beginning " When 
fair Roupell a-fainting lay," which it is to be hoped con- 
soled the sufferer. 

It was said to have been at a ball given by a Royalist 
lady, Mrs. Tidyman, in the house which is now No. 2 
Ladson Street, that " mad Archy Campbell " laid the wager 
which went far to justify his nickname. 

He was Captain Campbell, a brave, honourable, but 
terribly erratic and flighty character, easily led into any 
sort of folly, certainly of unsound mind, but valued for 
his daring courage and frank speech. 

That was the day of wagers. Everything was the sub- 
ject of a bet, as the old England memoirs show. Men, 
supposedly sensible, would risk pounds on the chance of 
which should see the most cows from the window on his 
side of the chaise when they were going on a journey. 

Mad Archy's wager was on a more important matter. 
He was, in his own wild fashion, deeply in love with Miss 
Paulina Phelps, a beauty and heiress of a Tory family. 
The lady was coy and coquettish, and not averse to play- 
ing one lover against the other. At Mrs. Tidyman's ball 
an officer just arrived from Philadelphia devoted himself 
to Miss Phelps, who accepted his homage with smiling sat- 



298 CHARLESTON 

isfaction. Captain Campbell felt himself eclipsed, and 
consequently aggrieved. His comrades teased him, his 
rival smiled serene, and he grew furious. There was talk 
of a challenge and a duel, but first Mad Archy said he 
must be married! To the taunts and jests of his compan- 
ions he replied by offering a wager. His beautiful Arab 
horse to fifty pounds that within three days he would, with 
her own consent, marry Miss Phelps! 

The bet was at once taken, but the laughers had not 
counted upon the weakness of woman. 

Captain Campbell invited Miss Phelps to take a drive 
with him in his fashionable gig, with his fast-trotting 
horse, to admire the beauties of Goose Creek. Carlyle 
somewhere declares that to " keep a gig " is considered a 
proof of respectability. Miss Phelps probably thought 
riding in Captain Campbell's a proof of fashion, for al- 
though she knew the distance great for a tete-a-tete expe- 
dition, and the crack-brained character of her charioteer, 
she set forth. 

Mad Archy's plan was simple. Two hours of break- 
neck speed, over banks and ditches, rough roads and pine- 
wood tracks, all accompanied with the wildest talk, would, 
he thought, bewilder most people. 

Paulina was delicate and silly ; she would surely be 
terrified. The scheme succeeded ; it was a half -fainting, 
helpless girl, whom he took from the gig, and handed 
over to the ministrations of Parson Ellington at his rec- 
tory, near Goose Creek Church. Mr. Ellington was as 
bewildered and almost as helpless as his visitor ; for when, 
the lady being somewhat revived, Campbell announced 
that they had come to be married, he could only say, " Not 
without assent." The terrified girl could say nothing, 
and the rector's scruples were appeased by a pistol presented 
at his head, and the assurance that he should be instantly 
shot if he made further objection. 



MARION'S MEN 299 

There was another pistol too, and Paulina probably 
thought that she herself might be its mark, so in fear and 
trembling the ceremony was performed, and the trium- 
phant bridegroom bore off his prize to the town — and won 
his wager! 

This marriage so strangely begun did not last long. 
The bridegroom was killed in less than a year. The bride 
said afterward that until they arrived at Goose Creek, 
she had never thought seriously of marrying Captain 
Campbell, having always supposed his wild talk to be 
merely "soldierly love-making." 

The " Book of Common Prayer " of Mr. Ellington, with 
his autograph upon the title-page, was discovered lately in 
a second-hand book-shop in Charlestown, and is now the 
property of the Goose Creek Church. It is always en evi- 
dence (not in use) on the annual service which is still held 
in the little old building. 

Parson Ellington was one of the Loyalist clergymen in 
the parishes. The Whigs had of course been dispossessed; 
but their successors did not sit easy in their seats. They 
knew well that their " protected " parishioners were, as a 
general rule, praying with their lips and not with their 
hearts, keeping carefully to the letter of the law. 

The Goose Creek parish was mainly composed of a knot 
of malcontents, biding their time to resume their arms. 
It may be supposed that, as they gazed upon the lion and 
the unicorn above the chancel, they greatly hoped that the 
Crown might have a fall. On one Sunday, Mr. Ellington 
in due form and with great fervour uttered the petition 
" That it may please thee to bless and preserve our Sover- 
eign Lord King George," and waited for the response, " We 
beseech Thee to hear us." Ominous silence for an ap- 
preciable time, and then in sonorous tones from the depths 
of the Izard pew, " Good Lord deliver us! " 

Mr. Izard was warned that mistakes in the order of 



300 CHARLESTON 

the Litany were not permitted, and might be followed by 
arrest ! 

There is a hatchment to a Ralph Izard still standing 
in the Goose Greek Church, but the writer does not know 
if it is to this Ralph, or to another of his family. 

The churches of course felt the troubles of the times ; 
but here the Anglicans had decidedly the advantage. The 
English necessarily respected their own shrines and but 
few of the buildings were injured. In most of the States 
the clergy had stood for the Crown, but in Carolina almost 
all went with the State. They were dispossessed and some 
were exiled — notably Mr. Smith, the rector of St. Philip's, 
who was banished, and his estate sequestrated, but the 
church property was unmolested. A Mr. Morean was ap- 
pointed in Mr. Smith's place. At St. Michael's an 
election was held for clergy and vestry. The pews of the 
rebellious members of the congregation had been confis- 
cated, but Mr. Commissioner Cruden returned them to the 
Church, and a loyal vestry with the Reverend Mr. Jenkins 
for rector, was chosen. 

The other denominations suffered. The Presbyterians 
and Independents seem to have been particularly obnox- 
ious and were abominably treated. So many of their 
churches were burned, and their clergy so harassed, that 
Mr. McCrady states that it had much to do with the sud- 
den revolt of the up-country, which was their stronghold. 
The reluctant militia became ardent volunteers. 

Even the Old White Meeting in Charles Town, which 
was generally regarded with reverence, was turned into a 
granary. Horses were pastured among the graves of its 
churchyard, and many of the monuments broken or defaced. 

During all this time the women had much to do. The 
business of estates, of communicating with the authorities, 
of appeasing the sequestrators, of obtaining small relief of 
various kinds, was carried on by them. 



mabion's men 301 

To effect this the} r were allowed (always under super- 
vision) some freedom in passing to and between the town 
and the plantations. Occasionally they were permitted 
(as Colonel Pinckney's letter shows) to visit their hus- 
bands in prison or a friend in distress. 

A lady permitted to go on such an errand naturally took 
something useful with her. Not only the news of the 
garrison, and intended movements of the troops, — in- 
formation quickly and widely circulated, — but some tangi- 
ble, serviceable object. A pair of stout boots was sensible 
footwear for one about to visit a plantation, but they 
were often transferred to the legs of one of Marion's troop- 
ers by evening, and the lady returned to town in thin slip- 
pers which had been an inner chaussure in the morning. 

One fair damsel so disguised a soldier's uniform cap 
that it passed for a becoming head-dress, and not to speak 
of pistols and even swords smuggled under spreading 
"farthingales," epaulettes for a newly made colonel were 
on one occasion passed through the lines on the shoulders 
of an enterprising dame. 

Widows were at great advantage ; being responsible 
for no man's proceedings, they were less severely dealt 
with than were other women ; and with the danger of no 
man's life or liberty on their hearts, they could give their 
favourite weapon — the tongue — full play. 

Most of the houses still retained belonged to this privi- 
leged class, and little gatherings of friends cheered the 
weary hours by contriving ways to send help and comforts 
to the men in the field. The means for these gifts be- 
came daily less ; poverty began to be felt. " Two half- 
worn waistcoats and three handkerchiefs " were things to 
be thankful for. 

One or two Tory ladies who still had kindred or affili- 
ation with the Whigs opened their houses to the, gar- 
rison, and occasionally a stray patriotic lady or elderly 



302 CHARLESTON 

gentleman would find themselves in a truly loyal assem- 
blage. The acquaintance of the officers could not be 
wholly declined, for business necessarily brought them to- 
gether, and policy maintained the relation. 

One could hardly entreat a man to spare one's house or 
one's horses in the morning, and cut him in the afternoon; 
but the men were made to smart for the honour of their 
conversation. Even the redoubtable Tarleton did not es- 
cape their wit, as when having affected to speak scornfully 
of his most brilliant antagonist, Colonel William Washing- 
ton, he said that " Washington he heard was an ignorant 
fellow, and could not write his name." 

Mrs. Charles Elliott at once replied, — " At least, Colo- 
nel, he can make his mark." Alluding to Tarleton's 
hand, from which Washington had swept three fingers 
with his sabre. 

The accusation was false, for " The Sword of the Army " 
had been bred to the Church, and is said to have left it 
for the same reason that afterward made him decline a 
seat in the Legislature. He could not, he said, speak in 
public. Speech or sermon were alike impossible to the 
hero of a hundred fights. 

Once again the commander of the legion was twitted 
by a lady in behalf of his rival. " I should like to see this 
fellow of whom people talk so much," he said. " What a 
pity," said Mrs. Brewton, " that you had not looked behind 
you at the battle of Cowpens." That being the battle 
where Washington had chased him from the field. 

Tarleton was not insensible to the charm and virtue of 
woman. When the beautiful Mrs. Shubrick, " a heroine to 
be proud of," refused to allow him to seize a fugitive who 
had taken refuge in her room, declaring that he should 
only enter it over her dead body, he turned away, exclaim- 
ing, " If American men equalled the women, the Rebellion 
would soon be victorious." And to a number of ladies 



MARION S MEN 303 

who had taken refuge at Brabant, the plantation of the 
Reverend Mr. Smith, he showed himself everything that 
was courteous and considerate. 

The wittiest of all the Whig ladies was Mrs. Robert 
Brewton (afterward Foster). She was the widow of the 
half-nephew of Miles Brewton, and a great favourite in 
society; she even dared to tease the dreaded Moncrieff, 
the commissioner of captures. 

He joined her one day as she walked down Broad Street, 
and as they approached the Governor's house, of which 
he had taken possession, he carelessly stepped on her dress, 
and tore from it a long crape fold. He apologized humbly 
for his awkwardness. " Ah, no," she answered quickly, 
"'tis just in time for its purpose; " then tying the long 
strip to the railing of the steps she added, " Where are 
you, dearest Governor ? Your house mourns for you, and 
longs for your return as we all do." Banishment was 
ultimately the fate of this daring lady. 

An officer who was going into the country politely 
offered to take any letters she might wish to send. She 
thanked him, but declined. She " did not care to have 
her letters read at the head of Marion's Brigade." The 
officer really was captured, and believed firmly that she 
had informed the partisans of his intended visit, — and 
who can say that she did not ? 

Men, even when non-combatants, were allowed less free- 
dom. One veteran patriot, Mr. Tom Singleton, the an- 
cestor of the novelist of Carolina, William Gilmore Simms, 
was a Virginian by birth, a rich tobacco planter and mer- 
chant. It is said that Tobacco Street, in front of the 
Citadel, takes its name from the large crops brought by 
wagons from Virginia and stored in the warehouse front- 
ing upon it. This warehouse stood where the Citadel now 
is, and in front of it was a famous well, the water of which 
was so much valued for medicinal purposes that people 



304 CHARLESTON 

came from far and near to drink of it, and it was bottled 
and shipped away. When the use of it was discontinued 
is not known ; it is said to be now covered by the monu- 
ment of Mr. Calhoun. 

The old gentleman owned the entire square, then called 
" Inspection," but he lived in Church Street, three doors 
below Tradd ; his house being a great meeting-place for 
the rebels. Here he harboured and concealed men who 
stole into the town by night, and forwarded information 
to the camps. He was bravely aided by his daughter, 
Mrs. Gates, one of the heroines of the time, who, being 
very strong and fearless, would often row these secret 
agents across the river at night, charged with money or 
information more precious than money, all for "the bri- 
gade." Mr. Singleton was as liberal as rich, and lost a 
great part of his fortune by lending it to the government 
for revolutionary purposes, and being paid, as was Gabriel 
Manigault, in depreciated currency. He had, moreover, 
a caustic tongue, — and used it. Many were his sharp 
speeches, thinly veiled by civility, aimed at the authori- 
ties, especially at Balfour, whom he despised. But his 
great offence was the uniforming a large pet baboon in an 
exact reproduction of the commandant's regimentals, and 
always addressing it by his name and title ! The gibe 
came to Balfour's ears, and even his great age could not 
save the old man from being sent to St. Augustine. He 
lived to return, however, and lies buried with his own 
people in St. Michael's churchyard. 

All sorts of devices were resorted to for the transporta- 
tion of news. Mrs. Thompson was the wife of Colonel 
Thompson, of Orangeburg, who had guarded the fur- 
ther end of Sullivan's Island during the battle of Fort 
Moultrie, and was commonly known as "Old Danger," 
from " a habit he had of being present at perilous mo- 
ments." This lady had obtained permission to visit some 



MARION'S MEN 305 

friends in Charles Town, and came, bringing with her a 
little six-year-old daughter. She very soon went out, 
leaving the child alone, with strict orders not to leave the 
room, but to do anything that a gentleman should tell her. 
In a little while a gentleman appeared, who put a letter 
into the bosom of the child's frock, charging her not to 
show it or speak of it to any one until an officer should 
ask for it. When he went the mother returned, asked no 
questions, and they immediately left for the country. 

Children in those days must have been singularly obe- 
dient and discreet, for not a word crossed the little one's 
lips, until they reached General Greene's camp. There 
the general himself asked her if she had anything for 
him. She said "No." 

Then he inquired more directly, if a gentleman had not 
put something in her frock for him. The little thing 
gave up her trust, which proved to be an important com- 
munication from a disguised well-wisher. Evidently Mrs. 
Thompson feared being questioned, or even searched, if 
the paper were in her possession. But who would sus- 
pect a mere baby ? 

It was greatly by means of this secret information con- 
stantly forwarded that Marion was enabled to do so much 
in the early period, when his force was small and un- 
trained, and surprise his great method of warfare. 

The phrase " underground railroad " had not been 
coined then, but the thing existed, and stood the patriots 
in good stead. Not an expedition left Charles Town, not a 
convoy set out for the middle country, or a plundering 
party made ready to start, but some one, man, boy, or even 
woman, slipped through the lines after dark, now speed- 
ing in a canoe, paddling silently along the river-bank, 
sheltered by the thick marsh, now riding publicly, disguised 
in a Tory uniform, or slouching along in country homespun, 
walking by night and hidden by day in some friendly barn 



306 CHARLESTON 

or thicket, but all searching for the nearest point where 
the ubiquitous " Swamp Fox " (Tarleton's name for 
Marion) might be found. 

They would come at last to some spot where a group of 
lean, hungry-looking men and boys would be tying, all 
alert and vigilant, with horses lean and wiry as them- 
selves, but like them strong and active, waiting for the 
least intimation of the enemy. 

By 1781 Marion, who had been commissioned by Gov- 
ernor Rutledge, with high praise and encouragement to 
persevere in his efforts, had collected about him the most 
adventurous spirits of the parishes. His men were from 
his own country, between the Waccamaw and the Ashley, 
and of his own kind. They were planters, farmers, and 
hunters who knew familiarly every forest path, every river, 
every creek. Gentlemen rode as privates in his ranks, 
proud to be known as "Marion's Men," and, this being 
the heart of the racing country, many a private mounted 
a blooded horse which had won a cup or bowl for his father 
or himself. It was said that Marion never demanded arms, 
clothing, or provisions of the government ; the country sup- 
plied him. Plantation blacksmiths made swords and pikes 
from scythes and tires; shot-guns were in every house; 
the women spun and wove indef atigably, and men who could 
live on corn-bread and sweet potatoes need not starve. 

Not at first attempting pitched battles, for which he 
knew his force too small and untrained, Marion waged a 
partisan warfare which may have been the model of De 
Wet or Cronje. His stronghold was the swamp — the 
great swamp which borders the Santee for eighty miles 
from the ocean. 

Here, on the low islands in the morass, approachable only 
by paths known to the woodsmen alone, he mustered and 
trained his men ; teaching the tactics suited to the country 
and to themselves, — "Always surprise your enemy." 



MARION'S MEN 307 

When an attack was to be made, when Tarleton or Fer- 
guson was reported to be on the move, the brigade drew 
together. An ambush was set, a sudden onslaught, a 
fierce fight for a few minutes, a column broken or dispersed, 
a convoy captured, and then off and away, scattering to 
avoid pursuit and regaining the rendezvous by many and 
devious paths. Or had a party encamped on some plan- 
tation, a little boy or a trusty servant would bring a prayer 
for help from a distressed mistress or old man, and that 
night a sudden shout, a trampling of horses, a noise of 
overthrown tents and arms, and before the sleeping men 
could mount and follow, the fox was off to his earth, — 
the swamp, — with perhaps a dozen captured soldiers and 
horses as the fruit of the attack. 

It is difficult to realize the condition of the country at 
this time. The women and children and old men on their 
plantations ; every able-bodied man away, and hostile 
camps in every direction. Here a troop of Tarleton's le- 
gion, there a detachment of Marion's brigade, — and each 
in turn chasing each other across their doorsteps. They 
took it wonderfully quietly. An old journal, published 
in the " Ravenel Record" by H. E. Ravenel, Esqr., 
has between such notices as "High wind which 
blew down the corn " and " Moderate winter and black 
frost the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th inst." — this, " October 13th. 
Genl. Stewart with 2000 of the British Troops and Militia 
Tories, came to Wantoot " (his cousin's place near by) 
"and remained there until Novr. the 22nd; in which time 
the Militia was here every day, taking my corn, rice, 
potatoes, etc." The old gentleman makes no complaint or 
comment. It was all in the day's work! The widowed 
mistress of Wantoot, her only son, a lad of seventeen, in 
" the Brigade," had to endure this long visitation, and was 
thought to be under obligation for being spared worse 
things, since "her family are avowedly opposed against us." 



308 CHARLESTON 

Marion had advised the women thus left to take the 
" Protection," keep the planting going as much as possible, 
make food for themselves and for him, and send him all 
the news they could gather. They religiously obeyed. 
To make rice and corn and potatoes, and to hide it away 
so as to be able to fill the brigade bags when opportunity 
offered, to feed and conceal a good horse in the swamp, 
to remount a husband or a son in case of need, to fatten 
a pig or steer to be sent to the nearest rebel camp, as a 
most welcome gift, became the object of every woman's 
life. Only the sheep was a sacred animal. Mutton was 
a forbidden food, the wool being sorely needed for the 
wheels and looms which furnished the scanty supply of 
clothing attainable. 

To hide the food was as necessary as to make it, for the 
British, and still worse, the Hessians, made close search. 
One lady was said to have covered her potato cellar with 
a large slab taken from the family vault, and saved her 
crop under the shelter of her forebears' names. 

To interfere with and prevent this troublesome industry, 
the British policed the parishes thoroughly, by those 
" domiciliary visits " which above all things harassed the 
people. Plantations in Carolina were so large that houses 
were necessarily far apart. There was no neighbour to 
call to when Tarleton or Ferguson, with a score or two of 
troopers, rode up to a lone woman's door and demanded 
admission ! It was worse still if the man of the house 
had ventured home to spend a night under his own roof. 
If taken, a prison or perhaps a rope would be his fate. 
Mr. Peter Sinkler, a wealthy gentleman, thus taken was 
marched off to the dungeon of the Provost and died there 
among felons. 

It was to retaliate for these captures that Marion (who 
was besides the least bloodthirsty of men) ordered his" 
soldiers to kill as few and take as many prisoners as pos- 



MABION'S MEN 309 

sible. They were most valuable to him for exchange. If 
there was no man to be seized, then plunder was the ob- 
ject of the British. Anything in the house that struck 
their fancy, and everything useful without. If the stable 
and barn were not empty when they came, they were 
clean swept when they left. There was a story of Mrs. 
Sabina Elliott that when apparently every living thing 
had been carried off from her place, an old drake came 
quacking from under the poultry-house. She immedi- 
ately called a negro boy and told him to "run after the 
party and give the drake, with her compliments to Colo- 
nel , she supposed it had been left by accident!" 

Tarleton sometimes played the fine gentleman on these 
raids; as when at Mrs. Horry's at Hampton, South Santee 
(where the fidelity of the servants and the coolness of the 
mistress alone saved Marion from falling into his hands), 
he took for his share of the spoil only a fine copy of Mil- 
ton; his men were less forbearing. Other commanders 
(Major Fraser for instance) were more frankly brutal. 
Mrs. Horry tells how he took her watch and a miniature of 
her friend Mrs. Blake of Newington, which she wore at 
her neck. 

The same manuscript journal tells the story of a widow 
with three little girls, her sons all in the army, being waked 
at night by knocks at her door: soldiers demanding ad- 
mission. She refuses. They threaten to break down the 
door, to burn the house. The brave woman (Mrs. Ravenel, 
of Chelsea) answers that they may break in if they please, 
but she will not open. They chop at the door with their 
swords (the chops may still be seen), but finally they with- 
draw without admittance. 

Feeble old men fared even worse than the women. 
One gentleman, " old, infirm and lame of leg," had all his 
six sons with Marion, " and consequently his feelings and 
principles being known to the British and Tories, he was 



310 CHARLESTON 

subjected to great abuse and had his property depredated 
upon, etc., etc." This is the tale of many. 

The worst outrage of all occurred at the most beautiful 
place in the country — at the Fairlawn Barony, the seat of 
the Colletons. 

The last Sir John Colleton died at the beginning of the 
Revolution, having taken no decided part in the dispute. 
His widow and some other ladies continued to live in the 
stately mansion, when it was visited by a number of sol- 
diers; — it is said unaccompanied by any officer. The 
ladies were so shockingly treated that the soldiers were 
threatened with severe punishment; but it was only a 
threat. The house was burned afterward, because the cedar 
avenue had been used for an ambuscade by Marion's men. 

Sometimes the tables were turned. The British were 
extremely anxious to catch Mr. Ralph Izard, and knowing 
that his company of Light Horse was encamped in the 
neighbourhood of his plantation of Fair Spring, they 
watched for his home-coming and burst into the house 
one day when he had just returned. Mrs. Izard, who 
was a singularly charming woman (Miss Delancey), met 
them at the door, and delayed their entrance by her cool 
answers and composure until Mr. Izard had time to con- 
ceal himself in a clothes-press. Not finding him any- 
where, the marauders withdrew, carrying off much booty. 
No sooner had they vanished than Mr. Izard rode off to 
the camp of his own men, and brought back a party to 
follow the English. He was just in time, for some traitor 
had assured them that he was hidden in the house, and 
they returned in great anger; broke open the clothes- 
press; possessed themselves of the silk and velvet gar- 
ments, — relics of a gay life at various European courts; 
abused Mrs. Izard for deceiving them, and were in the act 
of tearing her rings from her fingers, when he and his 
troop arrived. The marauders were surrounded, many of 



MARION'S MEN 311 

them captured, and the clothes which they had stolen 
were bestowed upon the rescuing party. 

The young men had odd adventures — were often taken, 
then exchanged, and again in the saddle. If they were 
particularly obnoxious, they might be kept a long time 
without being exchanged ; sometimes in the dreaded Pro- 
vost ! One young fellow betrayed himself by his appetite. 
He had taken shelter at Mrs. Motte's place, Fairfield, on 
South Santee. She rolled him up in a carpet, and push- 
ing it against the wall told him to keep quiet until the 
enemy had gone, and she could release him. Unluckily 
he heard through the open window his hostess giving 
directions to the cook about the chickens which were to 
be dressed for the dragoons' dinner. He could not bear 
to be shared out, thrust his head from his carpet chrysalis, 
and cried, " Keep the giblets for me ! " The soldiers 
heard and he was at once caught and carried off to repent 
at leisure of his gourmandise. 

Often the quickness and fidelity of the servants saved 
their masters from capture. 

Daniel Ravenel of Wantoot had gone home for the 
night when his servant gave the alarm; he sprang up 
and began to dress. Major Fraser rushed in, sword in 
hand, and demanded his surrender ; the young lad, — he 
was only seventeen, — half dressed and unarmed, eluded 
his grasp and ran out into the garden, pursued by the 
major with his drawn sword. Knowing the ground and 
being young and active, he got away. His horse was 
held ready for him at the back gate, and he escaped for 
the time, only to be taken not long afterward. 

The Annalist remarks dryly that peace being restored, 
Major Fraser walked the streets of Charles Town, and was 
received like other people, "which Mr. Ravenel did not 
like, Major Fraser having been a Tory, while he had 
fought for his country." 



312 CHARLESTON 

Colonel Broughton of Mulberry was saved by the ne- 
gro patroon (captain) of his rice schooner. The British 
were nearing the house when he gained the landing at 
which the vessel lay. The patroon made him throw 
himself full length on the deck and turned a small boat 
over him. The schooner was thoroughly searched, but 
no one thought of looking under the boat. 

There are innumerable stories of this kind, but enough 
have been given to show the nature of the " domiciliary 
visits," which in the early days of the brigade it was 
Marion's business to prevent and punish. Later on, when 
he had gained strength, and the country was aroused, he 
and his men fought splendidly in many battles : at George- 
town, Fort Motte, Eutaw, etc. But it was as the pro- 
tector and guardian of their homes that he won the 
enthusiastic love of the parishes, and made his name a 
household word forever. 

Too much cannot be said of the wonderful elasticity of 
the spirits of the people through all this trying time. 
How gay were the men — how brave the women ! Visitors 
to Marion's camp came back amazed at the stories told and 
the songs sung by the boys on their scanty ration of pota- 
toes; while the mothers and wives at home kept the house, 
and never talked of fear. The old ladies used to tell with 
glee, how when the British were supposed to be out of the 
way, the young fellows would come home to dance with 
them. A message would go to the nearest cousins and 
friends ; a supper be cooked — it might be but rice and 
bacon, but it was good to hungry men; the negro fiddlers 
would come, and then the dance and the feast until the 
stars grew pale. 

Often these merry-makings were disturbed by the 
enemy; but there was always a negro or two on the watch, 
and the harsh note of the screech owl, or the cry of the 
whip-poor-will, would give the alarm. Then " partings in 



MABION'S MEN 313 

hot haste," a rush for the horses, a sharp scuffle, a hot 
pursuit, probably a prisoner taken, and for the fortunate, 
the wild gallop 

" Back to the pathless forest 
Before the peep of day. " 



CHAPTER XVI 

EXECUTION OF COLONEL HAYNE. DELIVERANCE 

A TERRIBLE event which occurred in Charles Town 
struck consternation into the whole country. 

Among the militiamen disbanded after the capitulation 
of the town none was more distinguished than Colonel 
Isaac Hayne of St. Paul's parish, to the southward. He, 
like his comrades, had accepted the proffered parole, and 
gone to his own home — evidently intending to abide by 
the terms to which he had sworn. The parole being re- 
voked and the question put, — " Will you or will you not 
become the subject of his Majesty ? " he promptly answered 
in the negative. 

Bribes, and afterward threats, were used; the British 
being especially anxious to secure his allegiance because 
of his great influence in his own neighbourhood, and be- 
cause they knew that the insurgents were equally desirous 
of his services. 

But Hayne was too painfully occupied at home to have 
any thought beyond his own doors. One child had died, 
two others were desperately ill, of the smallpox, and his 
wife's life was despaired of. 

In this condition of things he was summoned to Charles 
Town to appear before the commandant. There he was 
told that his liberty depended upon his signing a declara- 
tion that he acknowledged himself a British subject; but 
which Colonel Patterson (then commandant) assured him 
would not commit him to bearing arms against his country- 
men. Hayne was most unwilling and uneasy; but if he 

314 



EXECUTION OF COLONEL HAYNE 315 

refused, the Provost would receive him, and he could not 
abandon his dying wife. He signed the paper and also 
wrote another, which he left with his friend Dr. Ramsay, 
declaring that the signature had been "forced on him by 
hard necessity." " I never will bear arms against my coun- 
try, my masters can require no service of me but what is 
enjoined by the old militia law of the Province, which substi- 
tutes a fine in lieu of personal service. This I will pay as 
the price of my protection. If my conduct should be cen- 
sured by my countrymen, I beg that you will remember 
this conversation, and bear witness for me that I do not 
mean to desert the cause of America." 

He then returned to his family, and some time after his 
wife died. What advantage the British hoped to derive 
from such unwilling service it is hard to imagine, but they 
again threatened imprisonment unless he joined the army. 
Indignant at this breach of faith, Hayne considered himself 
relieved of obligation; accepted the rebel commission which 
had been pressed upon him ; raised a company of his neigh- 
bours, and began a vigorous campaign. 

There was at the time a certain General Williamson, 
who had been an American, and then an English officer, 
and was now in Charles Town, looked upon with some sus- 
picion by both parties, and accused of giving information 
equally untrustworthy to both. 

The Americans were anxious to take him, and hearing 
that he was living beyond the lines, Hayne made a bold dash 
and captured him within five miles of Charles Town. The 
British were furious at the partisan daring to enter their 
territory, and greatly annoyed at the loss of Williamson, 
who was cognizant of all their secrets. 

A rescuing party was soon in the saddle, with Major 
Fraser in command, and Mad Archy Campbell leading the 
foremost troop. Hayne was making for his own camp on 
the Ashepoo, and had he been well mounted would prob- 



316 CHARLESTON 

ably have gained it in safety ; but good living during his 
master's long homestaying had been too much for the fine 
horse "King Herod," once the pride of the stable. He had 
grown fat and scant of breath, laboured heavily in the 
gallop, refused a gate, and finally stumbled and fell at 
a ditch! Before horse and rider could rise Mad Archy 
was upon them, and took the colonel prisoner with his own 
hand. 

Williamson was retaken, and the American troop dis- 
persed. Hayne, taken to Charles Town, was confined for 
some time in the Provost, and as soon as Balfour could ob- 
tain the assent of Lord Rawdon (absent from the town at 
the moment) he was brought to trial as a traitor. Tried 
by a court-martial arranged by these unscrupulous men, 
a condemnation was the only thing to be expected ; but 
when it was known that sentence of death had been pro- 
nounced, the horror was indescribable. The court had 
been most irregular ; there was reason to suspect that the 
verdict had been tampered with; every effort was made 
to change or modify it, but all in vain. What the English 
really needed was an example ! 

Many other officers, Hampton, Pickens, etc., had, like 
Hayne, decided that the compact had been broken by the 
enemy and that they were at liberty to resume their arms. 
General Moultrie distinctly states that this view was taken 
even for the Continentals, by General Greene, Colonel 
C. C. Pinckney, and himself; and that he should have 
had no scruple in violating the parole, but that expecting 
a speedy exchange he thought it best to remain quiet. 
For the militia there had been at the capitulation no ex- 
change guaranteed ; a great difference of position. 

The war too was more active in their vicinity. Not 
Marion only, but Pickens and Harden were making raids 
into the parishes, coming lower and lower down. Sumter 
himself was reported to be advancing, and General Greene 



EXECUTION OF COLONEL HAYNE 317 

had ordered Light Horse Harry Lee to " thunder at the 
gates of Charles Town." To check this growing tide of 
revolt a warning, and a distinguished one, was necessary. 

In after days, when the execution of Hayne was se- 
verely censured in England, Rawdon endeavoured to lay the 
blame on Balfour, who was then dead. There can be no 
doubt, however, that his was the responsibility. Balfour 
suggested the plan, but Rawdon, who never then declined 
the title of "Commander-in-chief in South Carolina," had 
the supreme authority. 

No effort was spared to convince the reason and soften 
the hearts of those two men. Hayne himself sent a manly 
vindication of his conduct, — denied the fairness of his 
trial, and demanded another at which he could produce 
evidence in his favour. 

The ladies of Charles Town offered a petition signed by 
almost all, both Whig and Tory. Numbers of the Loyalist 
gentlemen interceded for him. His wife's sister, Mrs. 
Peronneau, and his little children, received in the large 
drawing-room of the Brewton House, knelt before Raw- 
don, imploring mercy. Rawdon was for the time the rep- 
resentative of the king, but his " face gave no grace " to 
the poor little things. Finally Lieutenant-governor Bull, 
who had lately returned from England, ill and suffering 
from an agonizing disease, had himself carried in a litter 
into his Lordship's presence to ask the boon of life. 

To each and all Rawdon was obdurate. At, as he spe- 
cially indicated, the request of Governor Bull, he consented 
to a short respite that the condemned might take leave of 
his children. This was the only favour shown. Many of 
the British officers asked that Hayne should be granted 
the death of a soldier, not of a spy, — Mad Archy Camp- 
bell, who had captured him, declared that he would have 
slain him with his own hand on the field, had he supposed 
that such ignominy could be the fate of so gallant an officer. 



318 CHARLESTON 

This also was refused. At the close of the forty-eight 
hours' reprieve, Hayne, accompanied by several friends, 
walked from the Provost to the place of execution — what 
should be the manner of his death he did not know until he 
had passed the town gates in King Street between George 
and Liberty. Then the gibbet came in sight. For an in- 
stant he paused and coloured, then walked firmly on. A 
friend exhorted him to die with courage. He said simply. 
"I will try"; then ascending the cart without assistance, 
he prayed for a few moments with the clergyman, shook 
hands with his friends, drew the cap over his face, and 
himself gave the signal to the hangman. Dying as a gal- 
lant gentleman, sans peur et sans reproche. 

Colonel Henry Lee, who gives this account in his " Me- 
moirs," makes from Corneille the apt quotation: — 

" C'est le crime qui fait la honte, et non pas Vechafaud." 

One wonders if the clear vision, said to come at the mo- 
ment of heroic death, showed him his name, as it still 
stands in the history of his State, — " The Martyr Hayne." 

If there had ever been hope of conquering the country, 
it was over now. Henceforth it was war to the knife. 
Half the men in the partisan corps were in Hayne's posi- 
tion, and each knew that he fought with a rope round his 
neck. 

The entire body of officers, Continental and partisan, 
petitioned General Greene to retaliate for the execution of 
their comrade. They knew, they said, that by doing so 
they increased their own danger, and were perfectly will- 
ing so to do. Greene replied that he would retaliate, not 
on a Tory, but upon the first British officer who should 
fall into his hands. Fortunately none of equal rank was 
captured for some time to come, and men had grown cooler 
and felt how much such executions would increase the 
inevitable horrors of war. 

The ghastly effect produced on the popular mind by 



EXECUTION OF COLONEL HAYNE 319 

this tragic event was curiously shown by its giving rise 
to the only well-authenticated ghost story known in Charles 
Town. The house, which until ten years ago stood at the 
corner of Meeting and Atlantic streets, a solid brick struc- 
ture with a beautiful mahogany-panelled drawing-room, 
belonged at that time to Mrs. Arthur Peronneau, who had 
been a Miss Hutson, sister to Colonel Hayne's wife. 
She it was who had gone with his children to plead for 
their father's life, and her anguish at his approaching 
death was great. On the day of the execution he passed 
(the story goes) through Atlantic Street on the way to 
the gallows, and she, standing at the north window, cried 
to him in agony, "Return, return to us." He replied, "I 
will if I can," and walked on. 

Ever after, any one standing at the north window after 
nightfall would hear a ghostly voice in the street below, 
and steps sounding on the stair and in the hall, as of a 
man returning, — never going down, always up! 

He would have been a fearful skeptic who fifty years 
ago had doubted the truth of the story. 

Hayne's execution seems to have been the culminating 
point of the woes of the time. The tide was on the turn. 
In the up-country the partisans had done wonders, and 
General Greene, sent by Washington to take the chief 
command, combined advantageously the various elements. 
Governor Rutledge had at last, by the device of using 
indigo, great amounts of which had been stored in the 
country, for money, obtained invaluable supplies of cloth- 
ing, etc. Moultrie says: — 

" It was very fortunate the Governor was not made a 
prisoner in town ; his presence in the country kept every- 
thing alive, and it gave great spirits to the people to have 
a man of such great abilities, firmness, and decision 
amongst them. He gave commissions, raised new corps, 
embodied the Militia, and went to Philadelphia to so- 



320 CHARLESTON 

licit reinforcements ; he returned and joined the army ; 
he stayed by them ; enforced the laws of the Province ; 
called the Legislature ; in short he did everything that 
could be done for the good of the Country." 

He was during these years the sole representative of the 
civil power in the State. It used to be said that the 
" seat of Government of South Carolina was John Rut- 
ledge's carriage ! " 

The town had suffered — was still to suffer so much, 
that it could hardly believe its redemption approaching ; 
but it was coming, slowly but surely. 

Battles were fought at Georgetown, Monck's Corner, 
and Eutaw, in all of which Marion and his men took 
gallant part ; and the witty Mrs. Brewton, who had been 
permitted to make a trip to Camden, could answer when 
asked by one of her English adorers, — " How does the 
country look now ? " " Beautiful, everything is Grreene 
down to Monck's Corner." Referring, of course, to the 
general who lay encamped there, not forty miles from 
Charles Town. 

For this and other treasonable speeches Mrs. Brewton 
was shortly afterward sent to Philadelphia, by special 
order, it was said, of Major Moncrieff. Her banishment 
was shared by many other persons, who were exiled by 
the Commandant Balfour, as being the " wives and families 
of persons lately exchanged as prisoners of war, who have 
long chose to reside in the colonies now in rebellion. . . . 
The weight of which on all accounts is equally impoli- 
tick as inconsistent should longer be suffered to rest on 
the Government now established here and the resources 
thereof. . . . All such women and children and others 
above described should leave the town and province on or 
before the first day of August next ensuing." 

This order was levelled not only at the families of the 
exiles of St. Augustine, but at those of the many Con- 



DELIVERANCE 321 

tinental officers who had been so long imprisoned at 
Haddrell's Point, and who were now to be sent on for ex- 
change. Being published on the 27th of June, it gave 
the unfortunate ladies thus expelled little more than a 
month to prepare for this involuntary emigration. 

How were the distracted ladies to provide funds for 
such a voyage — they were to go by sea to Philadelphia — 
and for their support during their sojourn in that place ? 

Another order published a few days later forbade 
them either to sell or let their houses : those were to be 
given to the "firm friends" of the Government, — i.e. to 
Tories. 

Poverty was already pressing hard on the rebellious 
citizens, every source of income having been cut off. 
Mrs. Pinckney, in a letter published in her " Life and 
Letters," gives a curiously minute account of the lack of 
means at this time : — 

" I am sorry I am under a necessity to send this un- 
accompanied with the amount of my account due to you. It 
may seem strange that a single woman, accused of no 
crime, who had a fortune to live Genteelly in any part of 
the world, that fortune too in different kinds of property, 
and in four or five different parts of the country, should in 
so short a time be so entirely deprived of it as not to be 
able to pay a debt under sixty pound sterling, but such 
is my singular case. After the many losses I have met 
with, for the last three or four desolating years from fire 
and plunder, both in Country and Town, I still had some- 
thing to subsist upon, but alas the hand of power has de- 
prived me of the greatest part of that, and accident of the 
rest. Permit me to particularize in part, or you may 
possibly think me mistaken in what I have now asserted, 
as a strange concurrence of circumstances must happen 
before a person situated as I was, should become thus 
destitute of the means of paying a small debt. 



322 CHARLESTON 

" The labour of slaves I had working at my son Charles' 
sequestrated Estate by Mr. Cruden's permission " (Mr. 
Cruden, Commissioner of Sequestration, was in possession 
of Colonel Pinckney's estate, as he also occupied his house 
in town) " has not produced one farthing since the fall of 
Charles Town. Between thirty and forty head of tame 
cattle, which I had on the same plantation, with the 
same permission, was taken last November b} r Major 
Yarborough and his party for the use of the army, for 
which I received nothing. 

" My house in Ellory Street, which Capt. McMahon 
put me in possession of soon after I came to Town, and 
which I immediately rented at one hundred per annum 
sterling, was in a short time after filled with Hessians, to 
the great detriment of the house and annoyance of the 
tenant, who would pay me no more for the time he was in 
it, than twelve guineas. I applied to a Board of Field 
Officers which was appointed to regulate those matters, 
they gave it as their opinion that I ought to be paid for 
the time it had been, and the time it should be, in the 
Service of Government, which it is to this day. I 
applied as directed for payment, but received nothing. 
Even a little hovel which in the late great demand for 
houses would have been of service to me, was taken from 
me, and all my endeavours to get it again proved fruitless. 

"My plantation up the path" (namely, the old Indian 
path, the precursor of the present State Road, leading up 
the country) " which I hired to Mr. Simpson for fifty gui- 
neas the last year, and had agreed with him for eighty 
guineas for the present year, was taken out of his posses- 
sion, and I am told Major Fraser now has it for the use 
of the Cavalry, and Mr. Simpson does not seem inclined 
to pay me for the last half of the year 1781. To my re- 
gret and to the great prejudice of the place, the wood has 
also been cut down for the use of the Garrison, for which 



DELIVERANCE 323 

I have not got a penny. The negroes I had in town are 
sometimes impressed on the public works and make the 
fear of being so a pretence for doing nothing. Two men 
and two women bring me small wages, but part of that I 
was robbed of before it reached me. 

"I have a right to a third of the rent of two good 
houses in Town, each of which I could have rented at 
three hundred pounds per annum sterling, but the govern- 
ment allows but a hundred and fifty pounds sterling for 
each, so that about two hundred pounds which I received 
at different times in the course of last year, from Mr. Cru- 
den, or by his order, is all the money I have been possessed 
of except very trifling sums for two years past." 

Still money had to be found, and upon humble petition 
the poor ladies were allowed to sell their furniture, for 
what little they could get for it. A forced sale is always 
a calamitous thing, — to a woman when it is of her house- 
hold goods terribly so. 

There must have been many poor souls whose grief 
resembled that of Mrs. Tulliver, immortalized by George 
Eliot in " The Mill on the Floss." 

One or two of these prayers for mercy still remain. 
Mr. McCrady gives one from Mrs. Daniel De Saussure, 
whose husband was then at St. Augustine. She, after 
piteous preface, prays "that your Honour will be pleased 
to grant her indulgence of making sale of the furniture 
belonging to her dwelling house and kitchen, also a riding 
chaise ; and to grant her such further indulgence as to 
your Honour shall seem meet, and your petitioner will 
ever pray," etc., etc. 

So, gathering what they could, over one thousand per- 
sons, says Dr. Ramsay, old men, women, and children, 
were driven forth, most of them sailing in small brigs and 
schooners for Philadelphia. One party had a strange but 
happy adventure en route, for off the capes of the Dela- 



324 CHARLESTON 

ware they sighted other vessels, also coming from the 
southward. Soon they were within hail, and imagine the 
delight when the master of one recognized the voice from 
the deck of the other and shouted : " Is that you, William 
Johnson ? I have your wife and children aboard." By an 
extraordinary coincidence the exiles of St. Augustine and 
of Charles Town thus met at the entrance to Philadelphia! 

The joy of meeting overcame all other feeling for the 
time, but they had much to endure. The little money 
which they had brought with them was soon exhausted, 
and even those who had been rich were in great straits. 
The present writer has often listened to the stories of an 
old lady who had as a child been one of these exiles. She 
was the daughter of Samuel Prioleau, whose letter has been 
given in the previous chapter, a very wealthy merchant, 
but her mother was glad to earn bread for her children by 
making soldiers' shirts at a sixpence apiece. A subscrip- 
tion was made for them, by the efforts of Colonel Bayard, 
Mr. Hutchinson, and several other gentlemen, who appealed 
to all the States to assist these sufferers in the common 
cause. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania responded liber- 
ally, Governor Hancock personally subscribing four hun- 
dred dollars. The sum raised, however, was to be divided 
among so many that, except in the case of those who had 
private friends, the distress was great, — especially from 
the cold, which to these thinly clad Southerners seemed 
very severe. The men were better off, for they were 
quickly exchanged and returned rejoicing to the army. 
It was well for General Moultrie that Burgoyne was 
like himself a general, else there might have been diffi- 
culty. They " balanced " each other, and both were set at 
liberty. 

At last came the happy night when the cry rang through 
the streets, remembered well by Mrs. Prioleau's little 
daughter : — 






DELIVERANCE 325 

" Half -past twelve of a stormy night, and Cornwallis 
has surrendered." 

Fancy the joy of the people, and how proud and pleased 
were the Charles Town ladies when they heard that their 
own John Laurens had arranged the terms of surrender, 
and obliged Cornwallis to submit to the same ceremonies 
which Clinton had imposed upon Lincoln at the fall of 
Charles Town ! 

But although the war was now practically at an end in 
the North, it was by no means the case for the Southern 
States, and Charles Town, who had been one of the first to 
open the ball, was to be one of the very last to close it. 

The Americans had by January, 1782, regained posses- 
sion of all but the town, and adjacent coast, which being 
intersected by rivers and creeks gave easy access to the 
small vessels of the English. It was thought rather a 
rash thing, therefore, when in that month Governor Rut- 
ledge summoned the Legislature to meet him at Jackson- 
boro, a little village on the Edisto, about thirty-five miles 
from Charles Town, within easy reach of the enemy's gal- 
leys. Greene, however, undertook to keep good guard, 
and risk was the order of the day. 

Hither came the men who for years had fought and 
bled for their State, had served her in Council and in 
Congress, and had never abandoned her. " Good Whigs " 
all, rejoicing in once more meeting, in comparing their 
adventures, and telling their battles over again to sympa- 
thetic ears. 

There was graver work than this, however, for the coun- 
try was in a lawless and distracted condition, the destitu- 
tion was frightful, the Tories still threatening. At that 
time, too, there was no prospect of the end of the war ; the 
resources of the patriots were exhausted, and funds must 
be raised for carrying on the struggle. Not a man there 
but had suffered in purse as well as in person ; they could 



326 CHARLESTON 

do no more. As one of them said, "We are squeezed 
dry ; the others must bleed." 

"The others" were the Tories and protected men, 
whose plantations were now in the power of the Ameri- 
cans, as theirs had been in that of the British a few months 
before. 

The "protection" had not been as thorough as they 
had hoped to receive, but still their places and properties 
were not devastated as were those of the Whigs, and 
some of them, by buying up sequestrated estates for a 
song, had become rich. 

It was no wonder then that when the Governor, who 
was about to resign his office, — which he had already held 
a year beyond its fixed period because of the impossibility 
of convening a Legislature to receive his resignation, — ad- 
dressed them in a fiery and eloquent speech on the subject 
of these men, they assented willingly. 

He told them that the Tories had not " respected the 
cries of innocence, the charm of the fair sex, the habita- 
tions of the widow, the aged and the infirm, or even the 
temples of the Most High." And all knew that it was 
true. He reminded them that the terms of capitulation 
had been cast aside and their property ruthlessly seized, 
and recommended that the State should indemnify herself 
by confiscating or amercing the estates of the offenders 
against patriotism and humanity, and thus provide the 
means of carrying on the war. 

"In the Legislature," says Garden (himself a member), 
" there were not at the moment of the passing of the Con- 
fiscation Act, more than a dozen Members who declared 
their votes against it. The fact is that the provocation 
to severity was excessive and the public mind excited 
beyond control." 

Drayton says, " It was supposed that the war would go 
on a long time yet, and the army had to be subsisted." 



DELIVERANCE 327 

The sudden collapse of the war greatly changed this opin- 
ion, and Rutledge and his supporters were soundly abused 
by Judge ^Edanus Burke, an Irish politician who wrote 
an extremely clever pamphlet over the signature of " Cas- 
sius," and by others. Rutledge, as usual, went his way ; 
and the people made him judge and chief justice as soon 
as possible. 

Moultrie's account of this much-disputed question is 
marked by his usual clear good sense and moderation. 
He says : — 

" The Jacksonboro Legislature has been blamed " (for 
the Confiscation Act), " but the members were most of them 
soldiers still in the field, the war going on, their wounds 
yet bleeding, their property destroyed. It was natural 
for them to be angry with their countrymen, who, having 
entered into a solemn compact with them to support the 
cause, were then within British lines, under British pro- 
tection, sometimes with British commissions in their 
pockets." To stay quiet and take protection was no 
great harm, sometimes unavoidable; he had himself ad- 
vised some persons so to do. "But to take protection, 
then a commission, and then to treat their countrymen 
with more rigour than their enemies themselves, was un- 
pardonable." 

It is rather hard to see how any one could think dif- 
ferently. 

The Jacksonboro Legislature was not always sitting in 
judgment upon its delinquent fellow-citizens. There 
was much work to do, for law there was practically none ; 
and the country, as has been said, Avas in a distracted 
condition. 

It enacted the necessary statutes ; voted a handsome 
offering to General Greene for his distinguished services ; 
thanked its own heroes, Sumter, Marion, Pickens, and 
others, for gallant conduct ; received the resignation of 



328 CHARLESTON 

Governor. Rutledge with the warmest thanks and praise 
for " unwearied z«al and attention to the real interest of 
the country," and " satisfaction in the conduct of the ex- 
ecutive," and immediately elected him a representative to 
Congress. It chose his brother-in-law, John Mathews, 
who had done excellent work in Congress, Governor in 
his stead, and — amused itself. 

The elasticity of the public temper was already, in 
this brief respite from war and bloodshed, beginning to 
assert itself, and so many bold soldiers naturally made 
merry. The horse was in those days as dear and almost 
as near to the Carolinian as to the Arab, and tales of his 
prowess and fidelity went freely round. 

There is a story of Isaac McPherson (grandson of the 
lady who had been respected by the Indians because she 
was "Jimmy's Squaw"), who was commonly called "Dare 
Devil Mac." He vaunted the qualities of his horse 
Flimnap (surely it could not have been the same Flim- 
nap which Mr. Quincy had seen in 1773), boasting not 
only of its speed and endurance, but of its great docility 
and intelligence. It would obey him like a dog, he 
said. 

Wagers were laid, and the hall doors flung wide. Mc- 
Pherson mounted and rode to the door. Then step by 
step the proud racer ascended the staircase to the story 
above. Dare Devil told them to open the window. The 
men hesitated, declared themselves satisfied, and the 
wager won; but McPherson insisted. The window was 
opened, and obedient to hand and voice Flimnap rose to 
the leap, bounded through the window as if in the 
hunting field, and darted into space, landing safely, eigh- 
teen feet from the house ! 

A year of desultory fighting along the coast succeeded 
this Assembly, but all felt that the end was drawing near; 
and the British knew it too, and were making preparations 



DELIVERANCE 329 

to leave, gathering up their ill-gotten gain, especially ne- 
groes, of whom they secured many. 

Others were resolving to stay and settle in the country. 
Even in war time love will find out the way, and there 
had been more matches than Mad Archy Campbell's, 
between officers and Tory ladies. Mad Archy, by the 
way, had been killed in a skirmish at Videau's Bridge, 
and the luckless Paulina had died only a month after- 
ward, leaving one daughter. There is no account of 
their short married life having been peculiarly unhappy. 

Only one marriage is recorded, however, between an 
officer and a rebel lady, and propinquity and coquetry 
are clearly to blame for that. 

Mr. John Teasdale, an English, or more probably, from 
the name, a Scotch officer, was quartered upon the 
Verrees, — a Huguenot family of distinctly "rebellious 
principles." The young lady of the house was very 
pretty and clever, the stranger susceptible. Of course he 
fell in love, and, — a coquettish nature being too strong 
for patriotism, — of course she teased him charmingly, 
testifying her principles in various ways. One to which 
he objected strongly was that her pretty little slippers 
were always decorated with rosettes of blue and buff, 
and were always full in view of the red-coated lover. 
He hated the rosettes, and would beg her to "pull off 
those ugly bows." Then they were stuck out further 
yet, " but always," the legend says, " in a ladylike way, 
not showing more of the ankle than was proper." This 
proper little flirt proved so charming that the gentleman 
could not tear himself away and " by great perseverance 
won her." 

He built the house at the head of East Battery. 
Its foundations are a part of the old Granville bastion, 
most solid and admirable brickwork. An old well lately 
discovered near the gate was probably that for the garrison, 



330 CHARLESTON 

and the brickwork extends across the street under the 
building now used as a hotel. 

The house, built about 1779, is still sound and good, with 
handsome woodwork and Dutch tile chimney-places. 
In removing some of these tiles from one of the chimneys, 
a short time ago, a secret chamber was discovered running 
all around the fireplace, — sides and back. It was not 
more than nine inches wide and deep, and must have been 
meant as a place of concealment for money or papers. 
There was nothing in it when it was discovered, and could 
only be opened by removing the tiles. To this house Mr. 
Teasdale took his pretty wife, and in peaceful times be- 
came a prosperous Charles Town merchant. 

One preparation for departure was extremely obnoxious 
to the people. Whig and Tory alike were horrified when 
St. Michael's bells were taken down by order of Major 
Traille of the Royal Artillery, who claimed them as his 
" perquisite " in right of his rank as Commander of the 
Artillery. The vestry applied to Major-general Leslie, 
then in command, but he did nothing. 

It then applied to Sir Guy Carleton at New York and 
he issued an order for the return of the bells. Unfortu- 
nately they had already been shipped to England, where 
they remained for some time, having been bought by a 
Mr. Rybenau, formerly a merchant of Charles Town, on 
speculation. 

In this year Charles Town had to mourn the death of 
her favourite son. John Laurens, the preux chevalier of 
the Revolution, was killed in a petty skirmish, resisting 
some marauders on the banks of the Combahee. Few men 
have ever realized the heroic ideal more completely than 
Laurens. Ver} T handsome, very brave, with the charming 
combination of fiery zeal and exquisite courtesy he united 
the romantic virtues of magnanimity and devotion, and the 
tact and skill of a statesman and a diplomatist. 



DELIVERANCE 331 

Having won the admiration of Congress by his gallantry 
in the field, he declined the high promotion offered him, 
fearing to wrong his senior officers. When he fought a 
duel with General Charles Lee, to avenge the insults offered 
by him to his beloved Washington, his eccentric antagonist 
declared that he " could have hugged the boy, so much did 
he admire his conduct." It was he who wrung from the 
French Court its reluctant assent to the concerted action 
which enabled Washington to conquer Cornwallis. Then, 
having retaliated upon the latter the humiliations of the 
surrender of Charles Town, he rushed back to his native 
State, where the war still continued, and fell in her defence. 
She has no prouder name than his. 

The death of John Laurens brought to an end the 
public career of his father. From the beginning of the 
Revolutionary struggle Henry Laurens had approved, not 
always the measures, but always the principles, of the 
patriotic party, and had steadily supported the American 
cause. He had long been absent from Carolina, having 
served in Congress four years ; the last two as its Presi- 
dent. He had been appointed Minister to Holland ; had 
been captured at sea on his way thither, and taken to the 
Tower of London on the charge of high treason. His son- 
in-law, Dr. Ramsay, gives an account of his confinement : 
always watched by a warder ; not allowed pen and ink ; 
not permitted to buy himself the most necessary comforts; 
allowed hardly any exercise ; and continually tormented 
by gout and other painful maladies. 

He was constantly assailed by threats and persuasions 
to induce him to return to his English allegiance, but he 
stood firm. When advised "to take time to consider" a 
proposition made him, he answered " that an honest man 
required no time to give an answer in a case where his 
honour was concerned." When John Laurens was sent to 
France, the English ministers feared his influence there, 



332 CHARLESTON 

and urged his father to request him to withdraw, promising 
that should he comply the father's position would be 
greatly improved. Mr. Laurens replied: " My son is of 
age, and has a will of his own; if I should write to him in 
the terms you request, it would have no effect, he would 
only conclude that confinement and persuasion had softened 
me. I know him to be a man of honour. He loves me 
dearly, and would lay down his life to save mine ; but I am 
sure that he would not sacrifice his honour or his country 
to save my life ; and I applaud him." 

At last after nearly two years of wearing imprisonment 
Mr. Laurens was released, being exchanged for Lord Corn- 
wallis. He then went to France and was associated with 
Dr. Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams in negotiating 
the treaty of peace and independence of America. 

The country was saved, but for the father, " earth was 
undone by one grave in it." 

The treaty was signed in November, 1782, and his son 
had been killed in August. 

He lived ten years more. His fellow-citizens offered 
him every honour which was theirs to give, but he refused 
them all. He devoted himself to his children, and his 
people, and died at his plantation, Mepkin, on Cooper 
River, in 1792, leaving the singular order that he should 
be cremated. The order was scrupulously obeyed, and 
the weird effect of the funeral pile, the still figure in its 
white wrappings, the torch applied by the son, the flames, 
and the screams and cries of the terrified negroes, was 
one of the legends of the river for many a day thereafter. 

Peace having been declared, preparations for the depar- 
ture of the British went slowly on, and negotiations between 
General Greene and General Leslie, the English com- 
mander. There was great anxiety for a peaceful evacuation, 
and every precaution was taken to avoid a collision be- 
tween the outgoing and incoming troops. Not only St. 



DELIVERANCE 



333 



Michael's bells, but also the church books were carried off. 
The plate was saved by Mr. Light wood, who took it to 
Mr. Izard's place, Accabee, several miles from Charles 
Town, and concealed it there. 

Many Tory families decided to go with the fleet. Many 
soldiers, on the other hand, determined to remain (espe- 
cially the Hessians) and hid themselves in stables and out- 
houses until their masters had gone. 

At last the joyful day arrived. The American army 






r— 




r~^ 



Gadsden's Wharf 
Scene of embarkation of the British. 

had been encamped across the river in St. Andrew's Par- 
ish at Ashley Hill, Commodore Gillon's place, and at 
Middleton Place, which adjoined it. It now crossed fhe 
river at Bee's Ferry, twelve miles from town, and marched 
down as far as Shubrick's Belvidere farm (now occupied 
by the Country Club) and lay there that night. At day- 
break the next morning General Leslie withdrew his troops 
from the lines, retiring through the city gates (the same 



334 CHARLESTON 

through which Hayne had gone to his death) to Gadsden's 
wharf, at the foot of the present Calhoun Street, and then 
the embarkation began. Nine thousand citizens and ne- 
groes besides the British army were crowded into the fleet 
— eight hundred of the negroes had been seized by Major 
Moncrieff alone; forty-eight hundred and twenty-four 
were sold in Jamaica and Florida. 

As the British departed the Americans came in, great 
care being taken to keep several hundred yards between 
the advancing and the retreating columns. The Ameri- 
can troops under General Wayne were drawn up in Broad 
Street in front of the State House, and at three o'clock 
General Greene escorted Governor Mathews and his coun- 
cil into the town. Moultrie who was of the party shall 
tell the rest. 

" I can never forget the happy day when we marched 
into Charlestown with the American troops: it was a 
proud day to me, and I felt myself much elated at seeing 
the balconies, the doors and windows crowded with the 
patriotick fair, the aged citizens and others congratulating 
us on our return home, saying ' God bless you, gentlemen,' — 
'You are welcome, gentlemen.' Both citizens and sol- 
diers shed tears of joy. It was an ample reward for the 
triumphant soldiers, after all the hazards and fatigues of 
war which they had gone through, to be the instrument 
of releasing his friends and fellow-citizens from captivity 
and restoring them to their liberties and the possession of 
their city and country again." 

Sixty years ago there were many old people who de- 
lighted to talk of the pride and joy of that day. How they 
had stood, little things in " pinafores and hoods " to see 
the troops come by. How the Governor had stood on 
some high steps and bowed to the soldiers and the soldiers 
had saluted him. How joyous were the ladies who were 
to get back their homes — no longer to be confined to a 



DELIVERANCE 335 

closet or an attic ; how happy the men who returned to 
their own! 

So far so good, but Moultrie was too honest not to re- 
cord the omission that marred the scene. General Greene 
had been ashamed of Marion's shabby jacket when first he 
met him and years had not taught him wisdom on this 
subject. The old Continental says: — 

" The British evacuated Charles Town. The American 
Army entered it in triumph ; but our poor partisans were 
thought too irregular, too ragged of raiment too share the 
triumph! They were not too ragged to fight, only too 
ragged for shoivf It was a most ungenerous and ungrate- 
ful exclusion from the scene of the very men to whom the 
best part of the grand result was due! They were dis- 
banded here and there in swamp and thicket wherever the 
moment found them ; disbanded without pay or praise, 
naked, starving, having the world before them, but los- 
ing from that moment all their customary guides save 
Providence." 

This unjust exclusion long rankled in the hearts of the 
partisans, and was bitterly felt by Marion himself, who 
resented the affront to his men. 

Professor Goldwin Smith has recently called attention 
to an account of the evacuation of Charles Town given in 
the " Histor}^ of New York," by Thomas Jones, edited by 
Floyd de Lancey, 1879. In this it is stated that " the 
rebels entered the town like so many furies, or rather 
devils" — that they " seized, bound, dragged to dungeons 
the unfortunate Loyalists." " Whipped, tarred and feath- 
ered, branded and stripped, and to complete the scene a 
gallows was erected upon which 24 reputable Loyalists 
were hanged in sight of the British fleet! " " This ac- 
count I had from a British officer who was upon the spot, 
ashore at the time, and an eye-witness to the whole." 

The testimony of this anonymous officer is hardly 



336 CHARLESTON 

worth comment. No allusion to such proceedings is 
made in any history, English or American, which the 
present writer has been able to discover, nor is there any 
legend to that effect. 

Most careful compacts had been made by General Leslie 
for the protection of the Loyalists; nor is it possible that 
he would have endured such outrage " in sight of a Brit- 
ish fleet with an army on board " and guns presumably 
shotted. 

If the Hessians had had any fear of being hanged (a 
fate which many of them richly deserved), they would 
never have manoeuvred to be left behind. 

As a matter of fact, only a day or two before the evacu- 
ation, General Marion was advised to attack a party 
which had been plundering at Lempriere's Point on Cooper 
River, near the town. He refused, saying that the war 
was over and that he did not intend to allow the shedding 
of another drop of blood. 

" The war was over." 

No other city in America had suffered as Charles Town 
had done. She lay in ruins, and the old order of things 
was ruined too. 

She had now to build up the new, summoning all her 
strength and courage to the work. 



CHAPTER XVII 

RESTORATION. WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 

IN 1778 Charles Town had been a thriving, prosperous 
town, extending from South Bay to the present Cal- 
houn (long called Boundary) Street, and from river to 
river. 

Each house had its own yard and garden, only in the 
business portion along some part of the east water front 
was it at all closely built. It had at its back a wealthy 
and nourishing agricultural district entirely under its 
control, and a large commerce both of export and import. 

In 1783 the town and the parishes were alike in ruins. 
The incendiary fires, described by General Moultrie, had 
destroyed a large number of buildings. Hardly a house 
north of Broad Street had escaped damage by the shells 
from the lines, and those south of it had been almost 
equally injured by the batteries on the islands and the 
guns of the fleet. 

Where was the money to rebuild to come from ? The 
plantations were devastated. Moultrie, riding across 
country from Georgetown to General Greene's camp on 
the Ashley, after his exchange in Philadelphia, passed 
through St. John's parish and came to his own plantation, 
" Northampton." He describes the country: — 

" It was the most dull, melancholy, dreary ride that any 
one could possibly take, of about one hundred miles 
through the woods of that country, which I had been 
accustomed to see abound with live-stock and wild fowl 
of every kind, now destitute of all. It had been so 

z 337 



338 CHARLESTON 

completely checquered by the different parties that no 
one part of it had been left unexplored ; consequently, 
not the vestiges of horses, cattle, hogs, or deer, etc., were 
to be found. The squirrels and birds of every kind were 
totally destroyed. The dragoons told me that on their 
scouts no living creature was to be seen except now and then 
a few camp scavengers (viz. buzzards), picking the bones 
of some unfortunate fellows who had been shot or cut down 
and left in the woods above ground. In my visit to General 
Greene's camp, as there was some danger from the enemy, 
I made a circuitous route to General Marion's camp, then 
on Santee River, to get an escort, which he gave me, of 
twenty infantry and twenty cavalry ; these, with the vol- 
unteers that attended me, made us pretty strong. On my 
way from General Marion's to General Greene's camp my 
plantation was in the direct road, where I called and 
stayed all night. On my entering the place, as soon as 
the negroes discovered that I was of the party, there was 
immediately a general alarm and an outcry through the 
plantation that ' Massa was come, Massa was come ! ' and 
they were running from every part with great joy to see 
me. I stood in the piazza to receive them. They gazed 
at me with astonishment, and every one came and took me 
by the hand, saying, ' God bless you, Massa ! I'm glad 
to see you, Massa ! ' and every now and then some one or 
other would come out with a ' Ky ! ' and the old Africans 
joined in a war-song in their own language of ' Welcome 
the war home.' It was an affecting meeting between the 
slaves and the master. The tears stole from my eyes and 
ran down my cheeks. A number of gentlemen that were 
with me could not help being affected at the scene. Many 
are still alive, and remember the circumstances. I then 
possessed about two hundred slaves, and not one of them 
left me during the war, although they had had great 
offers ; nay, some were carried down to work on the Brit- 



BESTORATION 339 

ish lines, yet they always contrived to make their escape 
and return home. My plantation I found to be a desolate 
place, — stock of every kind taken off, the furniture car- 
ried away, and my estate had been under sequestration." 

Moultrie was better off than many of his neighbours, for 
his people remained ; but on most places numbers of ne- 
groes had been carried off, and labour was thoroughly 
disorganized by the abduction of twenty-four thousand 
from the low country alone. The lands themselves had 
suffered. The neglected rice fields were overgrown with 
coarse grass, the embankments were broken down, the 
reserves run dry. The indigo vats had gone to ruin; the 
little provision crops for which the women had striven 
were the only produce of the plantations of the patriots. 
On many there " was not a horse, not a cow, or a pig, or 
a chicken to be seen." 

How were these places to be restored and brought into 
cultivation ? Without the fruits of the ground how was 
commerce to revive ? Without commerce what help for 
the town ? 

Of money there was literally none. While the British 
occupation continued, there had been coin in circulation, 
but with their departure that disappeared. The paper 
money was pronounced valueless, and people bartered one 
commodity for another, as when the racing stud of Mr. 
Richardson at the High Hills of Santee, " 43 valuable mares, 
colts and fillies," were offered in exchange "for prime 
copper or purple indigo," or produced the little hoards 
they had kept for extremity. " Plate, rings, keepsakes, 
old coins, etc., were brought out by those who possessed 
them, but the great bulk of the people lived without 
money, or any substitute for it. Buying and selling in 
great measure ceased. Those who had the necessaries of 
life freely divided with those who were destitute," — a 
condition of things which could not last long. 



340 CHARLESTON 

Moreover there were extraordinary complications. The 
whole fiscal condition was so confused with old, funded 
debts, paper money, certificates, continental money, etc., 
that the present writer is utterly incompetent to offer the 
slightest explanation. It is enough — and correct — to 
say, that almost every one was bankrupt, for the present, 
and that every one was looking anxiously for what the 
morrow might bring forth. 

The immediate morrow brought only increase of trouble. 
Greene's army lay just outside of the town, not under the 
best of discipline. The soldiers thought that they had 
done all things, and deserved all things ; and their gen- 
eral encouraged their demands. It was with joy that the 
citizens saw them depart for Philadelphia, where they 
were even more unruly. 

The disorganized state of the country is shown by a 
story of how Governor Mathews, wishing to restore the 
civil government, sent one of the judges to open court in 
a small town to the southward. The judge set forth in 
his chaise, but without an escort. The road lay through 
thick woods. Suddenly from the trees sprang two young 
gentlemen of condition, who to his utter amazement in- 
formed his Honour very politely that they meant him no 
harm, but that his horses were wanted for the use of the 
army and must be resigned ! Then unbuckling the traces 
they made off with the animals. 

The furious judge made his way back (how is not 
stated) to town, and wrote to Governor Mathews. The 
Governor replied that he was very sorry and would do 
what he could. He would try to have the horses re- 
turned, but thought it best to postpone reopening the 
courts for some time yet. 

With much difficulty he did get the horses restored, 
but it nearly caused a revolt in the army, which considered 
itself deprived of its privileges. It shows the disturbed 



RESTORATION 341 

state of the country that two young men of position 
should have engaged in such a Robin Hood-like scrape! 

The unruly soldiers were got rid of, but the carrying 
out of the act of confiscation and amercement passed by 
the Jacksonboro assembly was a more abiding trouble. 

Had the war continued there would have been little 
difference of opinion, but the cessation of hostilities modi- 
fied public feeling. Royalists, Tories, and protected 
men cried aloud. Their trials, they said, had been greater 
than they could bear. The fact remained that others had 
borne the same trials to the last. 

The Legislature, in which were almost all the men who 
had voted at Jacksonboro, convened, and after discussion 
appointed a committee with General Moultrie as chair- 
man to report upon the matter. 

It was soon seen that as usual the soldiers, now that 
the fighting was done, were the most lenient. Marion, 
ever as gentle a knight as Sidney himself, threw his great 
influence into the side of mercy ; the Pinckneys and other 
officers, notably Gadsden, as frank and impulsive in for- 
giveness as in attack, supported him, and Moultrie gives 
the result : " . . . after sitting several weeks and giving 
every one a fair and impartial hearing, a report was made 
to the Houses in favour of the great majority, and a great 
part of those whose names were upon the confiscation, 
banishment or amercement lists were struck off, and after 
a few years almost all of them had their estates restored 
to them, and themselves received as fellow-citizens." 

Five hundred thousand pounds sterling actually in the 
hands of the public receiver were, notwithstanding the 
desperate straits of the treasury, returned to the owners 
thereof. Complaints were made of cases of hardship and 
injustice, some of which were probably well founded. But 
the men of that day were clear-headed, honest gentlemen, 
and the statements of Moultrie, Drayton, and Garden are 
of authority. 



342 CHARLESTON 

It did undoubtedly take time for these things to be for- 
gotten, — " he took protection " was a term of reproach for 
many and many a year. But ten years later Mr. Benja- 
min Elliott, in an oration delivered before the "'76 Associ- 
ation," after recalling the hardships which his countrymen 
had endured, says with emphasis: — 

" The patriot does not now enjoy one benefit from the 
Revolution, which has not been extended to the Tory." 

In the midst of all this the town declared itself a city! 
From its foundation to about the beginning of the Revo- 
lution it had been styled "Charles Town" ; then gradually 
people wrote " Charlestown." Now, 1783, it definitely 
dropped the " w" and called itself "Charleston." Never- 
theless in its home country the old fashion prevails unto 
this day, and Charleston is " Town " throughout the 
parishes. 

The first light on the pecuniary question came when 
the Legislature decided to issue bills of credit (paper 
money) and lend it in small sums to the inhabitants on 
mortgages of plate or real estate. The merchants pa- 
triotically agreed to receive these bills at par with gold or 
silver — a beautiful pretence for which they should really 
be praised. However, it worked well. A gentleman re- 
paired his house on the security of his wife's earrings, or 
bought a horse and plough with the proceeds of his silver 
candelabra. It was a small beginning, but it was some- 
thing. Richer men mortgaged land and could do more. 
The power of work quickened the spirits of the people. 

After the adoption of the Constitution the United States 
agreed to repay the States for their advances of the Revo- 
lution. South Carolina had, contrary to the saying of 
Holy Writ, gone to war at her own cost. Her advances 
had been so large that when the accounts were finally made 
out, one million, four hundred and forty-seven thousand, 
one hundred and seventy-three dollars were found to 



RESTORATION 343 

be due her. This was called an " immense sum " in those 
simple days, and went a great way. Banks were founded, 
trade, commerce, and agriculture revived ; the town was 
alive again. " Hard Money " reappeared, and as Dr. 
Ramsay quaintly expressed it, " Gold and silver had a 
domicile in Charleston." 

The rebound was wonderfully rapid. Of course there 
was much work and hard work to be done, but it was 
hopeful work. The cultivation of tide-water rice came in 
then ; that is, flowing the rice with water taken in through 
flood-gates from the rivers at the top of the tide. This 
brought into use the great deltas of the rivers, and the 
swamp-land along their banks, from the head of tide-water 
to the sea. Tide runs far inland in that level country. 

The labour was enormous; the primeval forests of black 
cypress and gum were to be felled, endless banks built, 
endless canals dug. It added miles of the most fertile 
land to the resources of the State, and the sons of energetic 
planters were made rich by the toils of their fathers. 

Literary gentlemen in cool and pleasant libraries are 
fond of writing of Southern listlessness and indolence. 
We often think of Tennyson's farmer and his parson : — 

" He writes two sermons a week, and I've grubbed 
Thornaby waste." 

Then cotton came in. As early as 1774 Ralph Izard, 
then in England, wrote to a friend who had charge of his 
estates: — 

" Nothing gives me so much concern as the thought that 
my people may want for clothes and blankets." And goes 
on to speak of the possibility of using cotton, " which is 
produced in such quantities that some of it may be bought." 
He also says that Mr. Heyward (probably Daniel, the 
father of Thomas) has as many people as any gentleman 
in the State, and makes cotton enough to clothe them all. 
Mrs. Pinckney's overseer writes to her asking for cotton 



344 CHARLESTON 

cards, to prepare it for the loom ; but its use was extremely 
limited. In 1784, however, Mr. John Teasdale, the per- 
severing lover of the pretty Miss Verree, sent eight bags 
of cotton to Liverpool, where it was seized by the custom- 
house officers, who said that " so much cotton could not 
possibly be grown in America." 

Georgia took the lead with the new industry, followed 
quickly by South Carolina. It was all-important, for the 
loss of the British " bounty " on the indigo, and of the 
exclusive trade, had made its production less profitable ; 
cotton was more easy of cultivation, and less exhausting 
to the land. The new soon superseded the old high land 
staple. With good crops of rice and cotton to export, 
commerce rapidly revived, and by 1793 the trade had trebled 
itself and prosperity was restored. 

Great changes of course had to come. 

One very important one was, that the town discovered 
that she was no longer the State ! 

For the first four years of the Revolutionary struggle, 
so great had been the apathy of the middle and up country, 
that she might well have continued to think herself so ; 
but after the fall of Charleston, when Rawdon and 
Tarleton ravaged the " districts," things changed. 

Sumter, Pickens, Hampton, and other bold riders threw 
their swords into the scale, and the cause was won by 
them, not by the crushed and shackled town. Now they 
asked their reward; let the capital be in the centre of the 
State, equally accessible to all, not on its extreme edge. 
It was a blow. Naturally the town did not at once agree. 
But a little reflection showed the rights of the case and 
the change was determined. The centre of the State was 
chosen, and the present city of Columbia begun, thereby 
" spoiling," the old people used to say, the " best cotton 
plantation (Colonel Taylor's) in the State." Charleston's 
reign of one hundred and twenty years was over, when 



BES TOR A TION 345 

the Legislature met for the first time in its new home 
in 1790. 

There were other changes too to be made to suit the new 
order of things. The English state had gone, the estab- 
lished church must go with it, and so must primogeniture. 

Both of these affected the town peculiarly; it and its 
parishes were the stronghold of the church. When the 
support from the treasury and that from the English 
S. P. G. failed, the whole parochial system went with it. 
Schools, charities, registers, all were done away with, and 
were sadly missed. Dr. Ramsay says that the wealthier 
dissenters had by this time joined the Episcopalians, or 
rather as he puts it, " the more fashionable Church," and 
were equally annoyed. When he wrote in 1808, only 
seven of the twenty-four parishes outside of the town had 
regular service, although in most of them the churches 
had been spared by the British. St. Michael's and St. 
Philip's, thanks to good Mrs. Affra Coming, had their 
endowments, and pursued the even tenor of their ways. ^ 

Mr. Rybenau, the merchant who had speculated in the" 
church bells, reshipped them to Charleston, hoping to make 
a profit. 

The people rushed to the wharf, drew them joyously to 
the church, and swung them to the steeple. The town 
had got" its voice again, and there was great delight. Mr. 
Rybenau never enjoyed the fruit of his enterprise, for he 
died suddenly, his estate was declared bankrupt, and no 
payment was ever demanded for the bells. It was "a 
judgment " on sacrilege, of course. 

Primogeniture all felt must pass, being absolutely incon- 
sistent with republican institutions. Some of its influences 
were regretted, peculiarly the loosening of the family tie 
that came when one of its members ceased to be distinctly 
the head, and as such responsible for the welfare of the 
others. 



346 CHARLESTON 

" The aristocracy which had attached itself to some of 
the old families received a blow," says Ramsay. It would 
be more correct to say that the great fortunes were 
broken up. 

There was, after a time, as much or more wealth, but it 
was in more hands. 

No great houses like Fairlawn or Newington were built 
after this. Men usually tried to leave the " home place " 
to their eldest son, by which arrangement some family 
seats still remain in the names of their original proprietors ; 
but younger sons and daughters were to receive their share, 
and although great liberty was allowed to testators, much 
inequality of bequest soon came to be condemned. Prop- 
erties were necessarily smaller. 

The Dae de Liancourt, travelling in Carolina in 1800, 
says that there was only one very rich man in the State ; 
" a Mr. Blake, who lived in England and had many rice 
plantations." This was Mr. Daniel Blake, grandson of 
the Proprietor and Governor, and the ancestor of the 
present family. 

There was great concern about the schools. It was no 
longer possible or convenient to send so many young men 
to Europe for education as had been the custom, and where 
were they to be taught ? Something nearer had to be 
provided. 

The question of a college had been mooted some years 
before, and land and money appropriated for the purpose. 
Nothing was actually done, however, except obtaining a 
charter in 1785, until the ever patriotic Dr. Smith (after- 
ward Bishop) took the matter in hand. Dr. Smith was a 
man of ample means, but such was his anxiety for the 
youth of the country, that he had collected a number of 
lads into a school and taught them himself. He now pro- 
posed to the trustees of the college fund to make an effort 
for its establishment, offering sixty scholars of his acad- 
emy as the first pupils. 



RESTORATION 



347 



The trustees were only too glad to accept the offer. 
They appealed to the public for aid, improved their char- 




Charleston College 

ter, and repaired the east wing of "the old brick bar- 
racks " for the college building ; giving it a square for a 
campus, and surrounding it with a wall. Dr. Smith was 



348 CHARLESTON 

made principal, and the first commencement was held in 
1794, when four young gentlemen were graduated : one 
of whom, Mr. Bowen, afterward became Bishop of the 
Diocese. 

All the trustees attended on this interesting occasion. 
"Judge Bee (former Lt. Govr.), President, Genl. C. C. 
Pinckney, Vice Pres., Mr. Danl. De Saussure, Chancellor 
Mathews (former Govr.), Chancellor Hugh Rutledge, 
Judge Thomas Heyward, General Vander Horst, and 
Joseph Manigault, Esqr." 

All but the last of these had gone through the Revolu- 
tion with honour and credit in their different stations ; 
and he, Joseph Manigault, was the little boy who had 
stood with his grandfather, rifle in hand, in the trenches 
when Prevost was at the gates. 

The present college building, between Greene and 
George streets, stands partly upon the foundation of " the 
old brick barracks" held by the troops at the siege of 
Charleston. Many lads were sent to this college, and 
many to Princeton, wmich was for years a favourite place 
of education with Charleston people. After a time the 
fame of Dugald Stewart and of Robertson attracted young 
men to Edinburgh, but only a few went to Oxford or 
Cambridge. 

Education sat heavy upon the hearts of the mothers, 
who could not bear that their sons should lack the advan- 
tages which their fathers had enjoyed. Their admonitions 
are earnest and well put. Mrs. Pinckney, only a short 
time before her death, wrote to her grandson at Cam- 
bridge (suspected of idleness), offering his uncles as his 
model, and exclaiming : " An idle man is a burthen to 
society and to himself. How absurdly connected are the 
words 4 an illiterate gentleman.' " 

The following letter from Mrs. Gibbes to her son at 
Princeton is so good and wise that it is given here. She 



RESTORATION 349 

had been Miss Drayton, and was the wife of the grand- 
son of Governor Gibbes. 

"August 17th, 1788. 

" Your last favour to me, my dear Jack, dated July 7th, 
made your father and myself inexpressibly happy to hear 
you were so agreeably situated at College ; a place where 
we have so long wished to have you, and where we have 
a parent's flattering hope of your attaining that knowledge 
which will at a future day make you not only a credit 
to your family but also an honour to your country ; that 
you may in the hour of exigency, when your country calls, 
rise up in her behalf, and be enabled to give your voice 
unbiassed by party or prejudice. For it too often happens 
that good men for want of an education to enable them 
thoroughly to investigate the subject and gain a proper 
knowledge of affairs; have been under the necessity of 
forming their ideas from other men's opinions, and be led 
by them entirely. This is what we may call taking our 
opinions upon trust. 

" In my last to you I requested to know the manner of 
your employing your time, since when in a letter to 
your father you have fully satisfied us. It gives me pleas- 
ure to know that your thirst for knowledge is so great 
that it makes the change in your way of life not irksome 
to you. . . . 

" I am glad to find by your letter that you have a danc- 
ing and a fencing master. These accomplishments are 
very necessary for finishing a young gentleman's educa- 
tion. I would have you sacrifice somewhat to the graces, 
altho' not entirely on Lord Chesterfield's plan. But 
why have I mentioned that book? It may perhaps rouse 
a curiosity in you to read it. If you never have pray 
forbear until you are three or four years older. Your 
principles will then be fixed : at present it is dangerous 



350 CHARLESTON 

reading for a youthful mind. . . . Adieu my dearest 
son. 

" Your affectionate mother, 

"S. Gibbes." 

By 1790 Charleston was a pretty place, as all travellers 
aver. The houses, many of them of wood, were large 
and airy, and the fashion of piazzas was becoming general. 
People were adopting the peculiar style of house stretched 
long to catch the breeze with gable end to the street and 
long piazzas. It was not as handsome but cooler and 
better suited to the climate than the square colonial 
mansion. This manner of house presupposes a garden, 
for the door upon the street is in truth only a sort of 
gate, and the true front door opens-Jrom the piazza, and 
gives upon the garden opposite. The curious neglect of 
flowers, mentioned in the earlier part of this story, had 
long since passed away, and every residence had its shrub- 
bery garden about it. 

The streets indeed were — and are — narrow, in spite 
of Lord Shaftesbury's admonitions to the contrary ; there 
being an old-world belief that narrow streets were health- 
ier than wide ones, because they excluded the sun ; — and 
everybody knew that the sun was a thing to be excluded, 
" maleficent and dangerous," as they believe in Rome and 
in Spain to this day. They were generally bordered by 
good brick walls, for the yards and gardens were the play- 
grounds of the inhabitants, who took their pleasure pri- 
vately ; and were planted with the pride-of-India (Melia 
AzedaracK), which had the great advantage of harbouring 
no insects, grew quickly, and gave in summer " dark green 
layers of shade." 

There was no want of varieties of flowers since Watson, 
the gardener first employed by Henry Laurens, had es- 
tablished his " Nursery and Botanic Garden " in the square 



RES TOR A TION 351 

above Inspection Street, where railroad workshops are 



now. 



To him succeeded Michaux, sent out by the French 

\ 




yi^rv. \Wi. ^r*^--' 



Typical House in Meeting Street 



government. He too had a Botanic Garden "up the 
path," and imported many new things, — the sweet olive, 



352 CHARLESTON 

the tea plant, etc. Some immense camellias on the terrace 
at Middleton Place were planted by him, and it was said 
that he had brought the first Roman laurel (degraded 
by popular speech into the spice tree) from Italy. 
Michaux wrote a valuable book on the oaks of America. 
The Drayton gardens at Magnolia were already very 
beautiful, Mr. Drayton devoting himself, as did his 
grandson of our day, to his beautiful grounds,, and de- 
lightings to show the beauty of the native shrubs and 
flowers. 

In the town, behind their high walls, grew oleanders 
and pomegranates, figs and grapes, and orange trees both 
sweet and bitter, and bulbs brought from Holland, jon- 
quils, and hyacinths. The air was fragrant with the 
sweet olive, myrtle, and gardenia. There were old-fash- 
ioned roses ! the cinnamon, the York and Lancaster, the 
little white musk, and the sweet or Damascus. The 
glossy-leaved Cherokee clothed the walls with its great 
white disks, and was crowded by jasmine and honeysuckle. 
The lots were so large, often a square, or a half square, 
that the yard, stables, and servants' quarters were quite 
separate from these pleasant places, where according to 
the fashion of the time there were arbours, in which the 
gentlemen smoked their pipes, and the ladies took their 
" dish of tea " of an afternoon. 

Captain Basil Hall, who came a few years later, calls the 
houses " the villas of the wealthy planters, almost hid in 
the rich foliage," and speaks of the " light oriental style 
of building, the gorgeous shrubs and flowers, and the 
tropical aspect of the city." 

So renewed and beautified, the little town thought her- 
self well prepared to receive the visit of President Wash- 
ington, when the Father of his People proposed his 
Southern tour in 1791. 

Travelling then was a matter of preparation and ar- 



r-— v~ ? '- "- djg 




i 



353 



354 CHARLESTON 

rangement, and Washington, who had a high opinion of 
what was due his position, was not the man to neglect 
any detail of equipage. 

The President came in his travelling chariot with four 
horses and outriders. His favourite horse was led behind 
that he might change the exercise occasionally. His lug- 
gage followed in another vehicle, and all the servants were 
handsomely liveried. As he advanced the people thronged 
to see him pass, and the gentry of each neighbourhood 
mounted and escorted him to the next stopping place. 

When the cortege reached the Waccamaw River, it 
stopped for the night at Colonel William Alston's planta- 
tion, Clifton. Colonel Alston was one of the largest rice 
planters in the State and considered a model one. He 
was an old soldier, having been an officer of Marion's and 
had lately married as his second wife the beautiful Mary 
Motte, youngest daughter of Rebecca Motte of Revo- 
lutionary fame. She had been a little girl when she was 
locked up in the garret during Rawdon's tenancy of her 
mother's house, and was now a lovely young woman with 
her character written on her face, and made a charming 
hostess. 

Clifton house (since destroyed by fire) stood among 
fine trees, a little back from the river, with fields spreading 
wide before it. These fields in early spring were covered 
with the young rice, springing green from the dark earth 
and intersected by innumerable ditches, the water gleam- 
ing bright in the sunshine. The President was quite unpre- 
pared for such perfection of cultivation, and, the passion 
of his life being agriculture, was delighted. It won from 
him one of the few enthusiastic remarks reported of him, 
for he told his hostess that it "looked like fairyland." 
And afterward in Charleston he said to the Governor, Mr. 
Charles Pinckney (son of Colonel C . Pinckney, President 
of the first Provincial Congress), that he had had no idea 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 355 

that anywhere in America was there such perfection of 
cultivation as he had seen on the large rice rivers which 
he had crossed. 

The next stage was to Georgetown, where he was, of 
course, received with all honour, and then to Charleston, 
stopping by the way for a late breakfast at Mrs. Horry's 
place, Hampton on the South Santee. Here he saved the 
life of a live-oak tree, which had been condemned to the 
axe as obscuring the view from the avenue of a fine portico 
just erected. 

The General's good word saved it, and it still lives to 
keep the memory of the visit. 

Arrived at Haddrell's, he was met by two handsome 
barges prepared for him and the gentlemen who escorted 
him. A committee greeted and accompanied him. His 
own barge was manned by twelve masters of ships then 
in port, " volunteers all handsomely dressed at their own 
expense." " Also a flotilla of boats of all sizes filled with 
ladies and gentlemen attended him across the river." 

At Prioleau's wharf he was received by the Governor, 
Mr. Pinckney, the Lieutenant-governor, Mr. Isaac Holmes, 
the Intendant, Mr. Vander Horst, the gentlemen of the City 
Council, and the Society of the Cincinnati. These, all 
headed by " the mace," walked in procession to the Ex- 
change, where he stood bareheaded on the steps and 
received the cheers and homage of the public. Those 
who saw him declared that it always remained one of the 
strongest impressions of their lives. Washington had the 
singular good fortune of enjoying his "legend" in his 
own time. 

He embodied to the people at large, not more than to 
those who knew him best, all the virtues which they hoped 
for the Republic. Strength, honour, virtue, courage, jus- 
tice, truth — all seemed personified in his majestic form. 

The house prepared for the honoured guest was that 



356 CHARLESTON 

still standing in the lower part of Church Street, now alas, 
a bakery. It is a substantial brick building which a few 
years ago was handsome with fine woodwork. 

It then belonged to Thomas Heyward, and was rented 
and handsomely furnished by the city for the occasion. 
Here every one vfchat could make an address, made it, — 
and all were graciously received and answered. How 
tired he must have been ! He visited the fortifications, 
and confirmed his former opinion that the defence of the 
city should never have been attempted, but " was noble 
and honourable." 

He went to breakfasts, dinners, and balls, all of which 
he recorded in his journal. 

" Went to a concert where were 400 ladies, the number 
and appearance of wch. exceeded anything I had ever 
seen." 

44 Breakfast with Mrs. Rutledge, lady of Chief Justice, 
then absent on the Circuit. Dinner with gentlemen of 
the Cincinnati." 

" Was visited about two o'clock by a great number of 
the most respectable ladies of Charleston, the first honour 
of the kind I had ever experienced, as flattering as sin- 
gular." 

There was a state dinner at the Exchange, arranged 
elaborately with decorations, banners, mottoes, etc. But 
one point puzzled the committee of arrangements, who 
were honourably anxious that the great man should enjoy 
himself as much as possible ; but how should that be 
managed ? He was, of course, to take in the Governor's 
lady, that was de rigueur ; but what other fair dames should 
have the honour to be his neighbours ? Commodore Gillon 
came to the rescue. Leave it to him and all should go 
well. So the clever sailor chose Mrs. Richard Shubrick, 
the most beautiful woman in Charleston, for Washing- 
ton's vis-d-vis, and on his left he seated Miss Claudia 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 357 

Smith, the wittiest. Eyes and ears were well provided. The 
plan proved a great success, and is detailed for the benefit 
of anxious hostesses. Our history is short ; the present 
writer knew the witty Miss Smith very well. She was a 
bent old woman, but her eyes were still bright, her 
wit likewise, — and she had not forgotten the " Washing- 
ton banquet." She was then Mrs. Henry Izard. 

A concert and ball were given at the City Hall, — 
thronged, of course. The ladies wore scarfs and bandeaux 
or " fillets " in their hair. White ribbon painted with the 
President's likeness, and the words " God bless our Presi- 
dent" like a wreath around it. These bandeaux^ were 
long preserved ; they were more patriotic than pretty, 
and must have been very trying — but that mattered little, 
for all eyes were fixed on one object alone. 

Sunday was no day of rest. The President went to 
church in state, attended by the whole City Council and 
welcomed at the doors by the vestry and wardens. St. 
Philip's in the morning, St. Michael's in the afternoon. 

Finally he went to dine with General Moultrie and the 
army officers, like any other mortal. Moultrie was a 
delightful host, could set the table in a roar, and was full 
of anecdote and pleasantry. If Washington ever unbent 
anywhere, it was probably at that hospitable board. 

The next morning at five the faithful Council were 
ready to speed the parting guest on his way to Augusta 
and Savannah. Farewell speeches were exchanged. The 
Council grateful for the visit, and hoping that he will 
return — and he thanking them in kindest terms for 
hospitable attentions and assuring them that it would 
give him great pleasure to revisit " this very respectable 

eit y-" si* 

For a lasting remembrance of this event we have the 
fine portrait of the general for which he sat to Colonel 
Trumbull at the request of the city, which now hangs in 



358 CHARLESTON 

the Council Chamber. Mr. Charles Fraser, himself an 
artist, says that this picture was said, by persons who knew 
the original well, to be an excellent likeness. It is cer- 
tainly a very agreeable one. 

Every relic of his presence has been cherished by an 
adoring people. The plates from which he ate, the tree 
which he saved, are sacred to their owners. The beauti- 
ful dinner table made for his use is a valued possession of 
the descendants of the Intendant, General Vander Horst ; 
and the pew in which he sat in St. Michael's Church, be- 
longing to the same family, is preserved inviolate as he 
occupied it. 
<? The Society of the Cincinnati referred to here should 
have been mentioned before, not only for the great impor- 
tance then attached to it, but for the extraordinary excite- 
ment caused by its establishment. An excitement arising 
from the suspicious fear of monarchical and aristocratic 
principles already alluded to, as prevailing in the years 
that followed the Revolution. 

The society began in 1783, when the officers of the Amer- 
ican or Continental Army, in cantonment at New Windsor 
on the Hudson, proposed among themselves that upon 
parting (they were soon to be disbanded) they should 
form an association of friendship and brotherhood, in which 
every officer of good repute should have the right to join, 
and in which he might be succeeded by his eldest son. 

The idea took and expanded. It first appeared on paper 
in the form of "Proposals" by General Knox, but as Baron 
von Steuben presided over the meeting called to deliberate 
upon the scheme, and as his French colleagues took a 
lively interest in the affair, there can be little doubt that 
the foreign officers had much to do with its origin and 
development. 

It seemed an excellent and unobjectionable plan. The 
preamble set forth that 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 359 

" It having pleased the Supreme Governor of the Uni- 
verse to give success to the arms of our country, and to 
establish the United States free and independent, Therefore, 
gratefully to commemorate this event — to inculcate to the 
latest ages the duty of laying down in peace, arms assumed 
for public defence, by forming an Institution which recog- 
nizes that most important principle, — to continue the 
mutual friendships which commenced under the pressure 
of common danger, — and to effectuate the acts of benefi- 
cence, dictated by the spirit of brotherly kindness toward 
those officers and their families who unfortunately are 
under the necessity of receiving them; the Officers of the 
American Army do hereby constitute themselves a Society 
of Friends ; and possessing the highest veneration for the 
character of that illustrious Roman, Lucius Quintius Cin- 
cinnatus, denominate themselves 

4 The Society of the Cincinnati.' " 

What could be more consonant with the spirit of true 
comradeship ? What more productive of good feeling in 
every way? 

Far different was the immediate result. 

The temper of the time was suspicious of everything 
that savoured of class, or caste, or rank of any kind, even 
military. And the provision for succession by the eldest 
son seemed to many the introduction of an hereditary 
principle, which they dreaded above all things. This rule 
of the society was, it was true, derived from the laws of 
primogeniture, and this the public was quick to discover. 
"It would form an hereditary aristocracy." 

Newspapers denounced it, speeches were delivered, as- 
semblies legislated against the proposed Society. It was 
even feared that Congress might oppose it, but that dan- 
ger was averted. The objections raised then seem the 



360 CHARLESTON 

merest nonsense now, but were of vital interest at the 
time. 

In Carolina the feeling was bitter. There, where class 
distinctions died hard, the " too numerous democracy" cried 
in alarm, while the conservatives entered cordially into 
the plan. 

The officers, however, held to their scheme. Each gave 
a month's-pay as a beginning for a fund; and Washington, 
after some hesitation, agreed to become the first President- 
general, thereby giving great strength to the new under- 
taking. In the Carolinas there was the special complaint 
that the association was limited to the Continental offi- 
cers, while the States felt, and felt with pride, that among 
their partisans there were many, who by service, character, 
and conduct were deserving of all military position and 
honour. This exception long rankled, and some officers 
holding Continental commissions did not become members, 
disapproving the rule. Marion, however, was a member, 
his name being on the roll. 

The association throve in spite of opposition. The 
officers of the French contingent took it up with enthusi- 
asm, and this too was an affront to the ultra-democrats, 
who resented the idea of " an American order being flaunted 
at a foreign court! " It was arranged that there should 
be a central " General Society, with officers to meet every 
three years," and Associate Societies, one in each State; 
all to be subject to the general authority, but each having 
power to make minor regulations to suit its own conditions. 

The question of the medal or badge of the order was an 
interesting one. Major L'Enfant of the corps of Engi- 
neers offered his assistance and designed the Eagle badge, 
too well known to need description here. 

The chief French military and naval officers who had 
served in the Revolution were declared members, and were 
presented with complimentary medals, which were enthu- 







^O 



^3 



\ 

The House where President Washington stayed, in Church Street 

Now used as a bakery. 

361 



362 CHARLESTON 

siastically and gracefully accepted. The Admiral Count 
de Grasse, in the name of the French navy, sent a beautiful 
one of gold and enamel, set with diamonds, to General Wash- 
ington, which is still worn by each successive President- 
general. 

The French officers were said, however, to have been 
sometimes a little puzzled : orders in France have gen- 
erally a patron saint, — was this a new one ? One gallant 
soldier asked another: "Can you say where then our 
American friends have dug up this Saint Senatus? I 
have looked through le livre des Saints and cannot find 
him!" 

The society took itself and its duties seriously, feeling 
that it was composed of men who had done well for their 
country and were bound to use their influence for good, or, 
as Washington said, " of that very respectable body of 
citizens, the officers of the American Army." 

In Charleston, where the Continental influence was so- 
cially paramount, and all the most prominent military men 
belonged to it, it was, the first ferment of resistance over, 
highly esteemed. General Moultrie was the first State 
President. The address which he wrote in behalf of his 
comrades and himself on the occasion of Washington's 
election in 1787 is admirable in its soldierly warmth and 
truth ; and the President answers in the same tone. 
General Thomas Pinckney was the second State President, 
and Major Garden, so often quoted here, the third. 

On the death of Washington, Alexander Hamilton 
became second President-general, and he was succeeded 
by the two Pinckneys in turn. 

Every Fourth of July the Society went either to St. 
Philip's or St. Michael's (the original members in their old 
regimentals) and listened with due decorum to a sermon, 
"suitable to the occasion." Both the rectors had been 
in the army. Dr. Smith, chaplain to the First Regiment 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 363 

(Gadsden's), had shouldered his musket during the siege, 
and fought for the town. Dr. Purcell had been chaplain 
and judge advocate in the field. On these occasions the 
eagle of the Cincinnati shone above the canonicals on their 
breasts. 

Then there was a meeting and an oration which the 
public was invited to attend, and the day was wound up 
by a dinner at which the gallant gentlemen enjoyed them- 
selves thoroughly. 

So far from endangering the social fabric, the influence 
of the Cincinnati has alwa}^s been excellent, keeping 
alive a kindly and friendly feeling among its widely 
scattered members, dispensing a delicate charity, and 
maintaining a high standard of honour and dignity in the 
conduct of life. 

An amusing instance of the hatred of all things English 
at this time is that among the rules of the Society was 
one, binding them to have no association with a man in a 
scarlet coat — meaning, of course, an English officer! Time 
went on, militia companies were formed in Charleston and 
decked themselves in many gay colours. 

One of these, the " Governor's Guards," a company in 
which many young gentlemen were enrolled, chose for 
itself a uniform of red and silver. The Cincinnati always 
went to its annual meeting with a military escort. On one 
occasion the " Governor's Guard " courteously offered its 
services for the purpose. 

But the Society, bound by the letter of the law, was 
forced to reply that, greatly appreciating the offer of the 
Guard, it was yet obliged to decline, as it was impossible 
for it to march with a red-coated escort ! 

In process of time the association declined and in many 
States dissolved entirely. Before the middle of the last 
century only seven of the thirteen Societies remained. 
Of these South Carolina was one. Of late years the pre- 



364 CHARLESTON 

vailing fashion of " patriotic Societies " has caused its 
revival, and it is now flourishing once more. 

Perhaps the most remarkable circumstance of the as- 
sociation is that the South Carolina Society continued 
unbroken through the war between the States. It held its 
meetings regularly on the Fourth of July, even when the 
town was enduring the Federal bombardment; and on 
one occasion, its secretary, the Hon. James Simons, now 
the vice-president of the General Society, fulfilled the 
duties of his office in full Confederate uniform, during a 
brief furlough from military duty! 

In these years of exultation over the success of the 
Revolution, patriotism seems to have entered into all the 
common pursuits of life, and to have expressed itself in 
all sorts of odd ways. That there should have been hun- 
dreds of children named George Washington and Thomas 
Jefferson is natural enough, but "States" given as a 
name to a thirteenth child by an enthusiastic father (fami- 
lies were enormous then) is odd, but was not infrequent. 

Household articles were made to bear witness, not 
merely cups and platters adorned with heads of distin- 
guished characters, but whole scenes were transferred to 
china. Cornwallis surrendered on meat dishes, Washing- 
ton crossed the Delaware on a sugar bowl, and the writer 
remembers a tall blue jug around which General Putnam's 
famous steps wound like a spiral staircase, with the hero 
sitting well on his horse's tail, galloping, sword in hand, 
into an abyss. Some things were quite elegant. There 
were decanters of a very graceful shape, said to have 
been made in Charleston, but more probably only en- 
graved there, with thirteen slender arrows for decoration. 
Ladies' dresses were embroidered with emblems of the 
same sort, and the eagle grasping thunderbolts, despite 
Dr. Franklin's uncivil remarks, was the favourite belt-clasp 
for years. 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 365 

Only one year after Washington's visit, in 1792, oc- 
curred the horrible massacre of St. Domingo, which 
converted the Gem of the Antilles into an Inferno of 
Savagery. The unhappy French, flying for their lives, 
took refuge chiefly in New Orleans and Charleston. 
They were, as was natural, received with all possible 
sympathy and kindness. Not waiting for concerted ac- 
tion the townsfolk threw open their houses and received 
the fugitives, who proved acceptable guests. Nothing 
could exceed the courage and cheerfulness of the refugees, 
who showed the same spirit that was then animating their 
kinsmen in France. Uncomplaining, gay, and pathetically 
grateful, they won the esteem and respect of their hosts. 
No one, it was said, had cause to repent his hospitality. 
For their assistance the city gave $12,500, besides the 
proceeds of a concert and many gifts, and the General 
Government appropriated 11750. This help enabled many 
of them to begin some occupation; they would take no 
more than was absolutely necessary, and quickly bestirred 
themselves for their own support. They were accom- 
plished in music, painting, and the languages, and pupils 
were soon found. Some of the gentlemen were good 
musicians, and entered the orchestra of the theatre, which 
greatly benefited by their skill. Mr. Fraser, whose 
"Reminiscences" extend from 1785 to 1854, says that thir- 
teen of the best teachers in town were these refugees. 
Two of the schools established by them were long thought 
the most fashionable ecoles de demoiselles that had ever 
been in Charleston. They were kept by Mademoiselle 
Daty and her niece Madame Talvande — the latter had 
been rescued from the massacre as an infant by her faithful 
nurse. The Charleston jeunefille, educated at one of these 
schools, learned, besides her lessons, a careful demeanour 
and an absolute submission to the will of her teacher, which 
would astonish the young people of the present day. 



366 CHARLESTON 

In an inferior class the best bakers, pastry-cooks, dress- 
makers, hairdressers, and clearstarchers were the St. Do- 
mingans or their children, and the beau or belle who had 
not learned to dance from M. Taste t or M. Foyolle would 
have been at a sad disadvantage. A few who had some 
knowledge of business became successful merchants, and 
more than one was distinguished in medicine. One of 
these, Dr. Polony, was the most eminent, being a member 
of learned European societies, and a correspondent of 
Buffon. 

Seven years after their arrival the Due de Rochefoucault 
Liancourt visited Charleston and speaks warmly of the 
gentleness, courtesy, and agreeability of these refugees, and 
of the untiring kindness and liberality of the citizens. 
They were well rewarded, for undoubtedly the example 
of the pretty manners and accomplishments tended to the 
embellishment of society. 

The mother of Joseph Jefferson was one of these refu- 
gees. Her piquante face and sweet manners, as a child of 
eight or ten, attracted the attention of the daughter of 
General Macpherson, who, finding that the little girl had 
only a rather careless father to protect her, persuaded him 
to allow her to take charge of his daughter. The child 
grew up and was educated in the hospitable home of the 
Macphersons, until the promise of an unusually fine voice 
determined her father to educate her for the stage. Most 
reluctantly her kind friends resigned her, and she was 
taken to the North for the cultivation of her talent. 
There she married the elder Jefferson and became the 
mother of the greatest of American actors. Her son has 
told the story of her life and its many vicissitudes in his 
charming autobiography. 

This was but one of the ways in which the French Revo- 
lution affected the people of Charleston. At first the doc- 
trines of the new dispensation, the rights of the people 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 367 

and the brotherhood of man, kindled the imaginations of 
the men of 1776. They fancied that La Fayette was to 
be another Washington, and France regenerate Europe. 
They formed Jacobin Clubs, — they, the most conservative 
of men ! — and when Citizen Genet, envoy of the French 
Republic, landed in Charleston, he was received with open 
arms. The old officers who had fought with the French 
auxiliaries took him to their homes and hearts, and 
marched with him in processsion to the tune of the 
"Marseillaise"! 

There were dinners and meetings, much excited talk of 
leaguing against England, etc. Washington, who never 
lost his head, had at once declared a strict neutrality during 
the war; but the Citizen, relying on his own manifest popu- 
larity and the loudly expressed sympathy of the people, 
paid no attention to the declaration, and proceeded to levy 
troops and engage privateers to attack Florida and New 
Orleans. 

Fortunately Moultrie was then Governor, and was sen- 
sible and cool as Washington himself. He issued a proc- 
lamation forbidding all enlistment ; refused to permit 
the armament of the privateers; ordered out the militia to 
enforce his orders, and advised the President to call M. 
Genet to Philadelphia. The belief in the beneficence of 
the French Revolution died hard, but was succeeded by 
an equally ardent horror when news of the proceedings of 
the Revolutionists burst upon the astonished world. 

Especially did the banishment of La Fayette shock and 
distress America. The people remembered how he had 
come as the friend of this country in the hour of her 
greatest need ; knew how for years he had laboured to 
benefit his own, and resented the ingratitude with which 
he was treated. When the news came of his imprison- 
ment by Austria, the indignation was intense ; nowhere 
more so than in Charleston, where on his first arrival with 



368 CHARLESTON 

Major Huger, so many years before, his graceful manners 
and chivalric spirit had made a deep impression. People 
were proud when they heard that the young son of Major 
Huger, Francis Kinloch, who as a child had played with 
the handsome Frenchman at North Island, had risked his 
life to liberate the prisoner of Olmutz. The attempt had 
failed, but through no fault of Huger's, who had behaved 
with singular devotion, giving up his own horse to La Fay- 
ette, and being at once himself consigned to the dungeon. 
The lives of both were constantly threatened, and might 
be sacrificed at any moment, depending as they did on 
the whim of an absolute despot. Mr. Huger was, after a 
time, released and returned home, but La Fayette remained 
confined despite the entreaties of half the world. The 
anxiety for his safety was painful, and the people could 
not understand why Washington did not demand the 
release of the friend of America. 

Washington's popularity was sustaining a severe strain 
at the time (1796-1797) on account of the Jay treaty, the 
provisions of which were so distasteful to the South and 
West, that Judge Iredell of North Carolina, associate 
justice of the Supreme Court, said that " every man south 
of the Potomac was opposed to it, even stanch Federal- 
ists and personal friends of Mr. Jay." 

To fasten such a treaty, which conceded almost every 
demand of Great Britain, upon the country, and to neglect 
its best friend! Was it possible that the President could 
mean this! The people stood aghast. Orators and news- 
papers denounced the pusillanimity of such conduct, ad- 
dresses and petitions poured in upon the harassed but 
steadfast man who knew better than any other that a 
peace at any price with England was imperative, knew 
the limitations of his own power and the necessity for con- 
cealing them. To demand and be refused would be de- 
rogatory to the dignity of his young Republic, which 
could not enforce such demand by arms or influence. 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 369 

What he could he would do ; but he would not take one 
step which would lower the prestige with which successful 
resistance to Great Britain had invested America. 

Major Thomas Pinckney was then minister to the Court 
of St. James, and with him Washington had much corre- 
spondence on the subject. Major Pinckney had just re- 
turned to England from Spain, where he had successfully 
concluded a treaty for the free navigation of the Missis- 
sippi, and had asked to be allowed to return home, where 
private affairs demanded his presence. The treaty with 
Spain (Treaty of San Ildefonso) gave great satisfaction, 
especially to the West, and somewhat abated the violence 
of public feeling. The following letters refer to these 
topics, which were then supremely interesting to Charles- 
ton and other Southern cities. A portion of the first has 
been printed in the " Life of Thomas Pinckney," Hough- 
ton, Mifflin & Co., Boston; but not to mutilate the Presi- 
dent's epistle, it is reprinted here with the context. 

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON TO MAJOR PINCKNEY, MINISTER 
TO ENGLAND 

" Philadelphia, 20th Feb. 1796. 

"Dear Sir: Your letter of the 10th. of October from 
Madrid has been duly received. With regret I read the 
request which it contains ; but the footing on which you 
have placed the matter, forbids opposition, or even persua- 
sion on my part that you would recede from it, altho' the 
difficulty of supplying your place, to my satisfaction, to the 
satisfaction of your country or to the Court you will leave 
will not be found easy. 

"Having heard thro' different channels that you had 
concluded a treaty with Spain, and that the vessel which 
had it on board had been spoke at sea, we are in daily and 
anxious expectation of its arrival. 

" The information has diffused general pleasure, and 
2b 



370 CHARLESTON 

will be soothing to the inhabitants of the western waters, 
who were beginning to grow restless and clamorous to 
obtain the navigation. 

" Since the confinement of M. de La Fayette (after the 
attempt made by Dr. Bollman and Mr. Huger, both of 
whom are now in this city, to effect his escape) we have 
heard nothing further respecting him but that his confine- 
ment was more rigorous than before. We knew indeed 
that Madame de La Fayette and his daughter have been at 
Hamburgh, — that it was reported they were coming to 
America; — but that instead of doing so they went to 
Vienna, to try the effect of personal solicitations to obtain 
his releasement. 

" Newspaper accounts go further and say they were per- 
mitted to proceed to Olmutz. But how far the latter in- 
formation is to be depended on, and if true what is or may 
be the result is altogether unknown to me. 

" I need hardly mention how much my sensibility has 
been hurt by the treatment which this gentleman has met 
with, or how anxious I am to see him liberated therefrom, 
but what course to pursue, as most likely and proper to 
aid that measure is not quite so easy to decide on. 

" As President of the United States there might be a 
commitment of the Government by any interference of 
mine, and it is no easy matter, in a transaction of this 
nature, for a public character to assume the garb of a 
private citizen in a case that does not relate to himself. 
Yet such is my wish to contribute my mite to accomplish 
this desirable object, that I have no objection to its being 
made known to the Imperial Ambassador in London (who 
if he thinks proper may communicate it to his Court) that 
this event is the ardent wish of the people of the United 
States, to which I sincerely add mine. The time, the 
manner and even the measure itself I leave to your dis- 
cretion, as circumstance and every other matter that 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 371 

concerns this gentleman are better known on that than 
they are on this side of the Atlantic. 

" I shall add no more on this, and but little on any other 
topic at present. The Gazettes which I presume you re- 
ceive, will show in what manner the public functionaries 
are treated here. The abuse however which some of them 
contain, has excited no reply from me. 

" I have a consolation which no earthly power can de- 
prive me of, that of acting from my best judgment, and I 
shall be very much mistaken if I do not soon find that the 
public mind is recovering fast from the disquietude into 
which it has been thrown by the most wilful, artful and 
malignant misrepresentation that can be imagined. The 
current is certainly turned, and is beginning to run strong 
the other way — But I am proceeding further than I had 
intended, and will therefore conclude with assurances of 
the esteem and regard with which I am 
" Dear Sir 

" Your obedt. and affect. Servt. 
"G. Washington." 

Copy from original letter, in possession of Captain 
Thomas Pinckney, Charleston, South Carolina. 

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON TO MAJOR PINCKNEY, MINISTER 
TO ENGLAND 

" Philadelphia, 22nd. May, 1796. 
"Private. 

"Dear Sir: To my letters of the 20th. of Feby. and 
5th. of March, I beg to refer you for the disclosure of my 
sentiments on the subject then mentioned to you. 

" Very soon afterwards a long and animated discussion 
in the House of Representatives relative to the Treaty of 
Amity, Commerce and Navigation with Great Britain, 
took place; and continued, in one shape or another, until 



372 CHARLESTON 

the last of April, suspending in a manner all other busi- 
ness, and exciting the public mind in a higher degree than 
it has been at any period since the Revolution, — nothing 
I believe but the torrent of Petitions and Remonstrances 
which were pouring in from all the Eastern and Middle 
States, and were beginning to come pretty freely from that 
of Virginia requiring the necessary provision for carrying 
the treaty into effect, would have produced a division 
(51 to 48) in favour of the appropriation. But as the 
debates (which I presume will be sent to you from the 
Department of State,) will give you a view of this busi- 
ness, more in detail than I am able to do I shall refer you 
to them. The enclosed speech however made by Mr. 
Ames, at the close, of the discussion, I send you, because 
in the opinion of most that heard it delivered, or have read 
it since, its reasoning is unanswerable. 

" The doubtful issue of the dispute added to the real 
difficulty of finding a character to supply your place, at 
the court of London has occasioned a longer delay than 
may be convenient or agreeable to you. But as Mr. King 
of the Senate " (Rufus King of N. Y.) "who it seems had 
resolved to quit his seat at that board, has accepted the 
appointment and will embark as soon as matters can be 
arranged you will soon be relieved. 

" In my letter of the 20th. of Feby. I expressed pretty 
strongly my sensibility on acct. of the situation of the 
Marquis De la Fayette. This is increased by the visible 
distress of his son, who is now with me, and grieves for 
the unhappy Fate of his parents. This circumstance gives 
a poignancy to my own feelings on the occasion and has 
induced me to go a step farther than I did in the letter 
above mentioned, as you will perceive by the enclosed 
address (a copy of which is also transmitted for your in- 
formation) to the Emperor of Germany, to be forwarded 
by you in such a manner, and under such auspices as in 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 373 

your judgment shall be deemed best, — or to arrest it, if 
from the evidence before you (derived from former at- 
tempts) it shall appear clear that it would be of no avail 
to send it. 

" Before I close this letter permit me to request the 
favour of you to embrace some favourable opportunity to 
thank Lord Grenville in my behalf, for his politeness in 
causing a special permit to be sent to Liverpool for the 
shipment of two sacks of the field peas, and the like quan- 
tity of winter vetches, which I had requested our Consul 
at that place to send to me for seed, but which it seems 
could not be done without a special order from Govern- 
ment. A circumstance which did not occur to me, or I 
certainly should not have given it the trouble of issuing 
one for such a trifle. 

44 With very great esteem and regard 
44 1 am, dear Sir 

44 Your obedt. Servant 

44 G. Washington." 

Copied from original letter in the possession of Captain 
Thomas Pinckney, Charleston, South Carolina. 

The address by Washington to the Emperor of Austria 
enclosed with this letter is published in the 44 Life of 
Thomas Pinckney," and is a model of dignified remon- 
strance. 

The President was careful to supply Major Pinckney 
with ample funds for the use of Madame de La Fayette, in 
her unwearied efforts for the release of her husband — a 
release which did not take place until demanded by Na- 
poleon in 1797, after five years of close imprisonment. 

So rapidly did Charleston recover from its " fervour of 
Jacobinism which did not long agree with federalism," as 
that acute observer, Mr. Samuel Thomas of Massachu- 
setts, said, that by 1796-1797 the people were eagerly pre- 



374 



CHARLESTON 



paring for the war which the insolence of the Directory had 
nearly provoked. A meeting was held in St. Michael's 
Church and funds were subscribed for fortifications. 
" Castle Pinckney," so named in honour of General C. C. 
Pinckney, who had just returned from the mission to 
France, in which he had curtly refused compliance with the 




YWv... ^ 



Owa 



Castle Pinckney at Present Time 



dishonourable demands of Talleyrand and his associates, 
was built upon the shoal long known as Shute's Folly. 

Great enthusiasm was shown by the mechanics, who vol- 
unteered to build a fort by their own unpaid labours. 
Accordingly the work was known as " Fort Mechanic," 
and stood on East Battery, where the residence No. 19 is 
now. A part of the north wall and the well of the ad- 
joining lot are remains of this fortification. The citizens 
also subscribed for a thirty-two gun frigate, which was 
built at Pritchard's shipyard on Belvidere town creek, at 
the end of the lane on which the Country Club stands 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 375 

now. She was launched in 1799 and called John Adams, 
in honour of the second President of the United States. 

The war being averted, the century was closing, as far 
as this country was concerned, in "peace and amity." 
The last years show peaceful occupations. The Orphan 
House was built after a yellow fever summer which had 
shown the need of such an institution. An English 
traveller, who visited it some years after, admired its com- 
fort and management, but adds that such institutions are 
wrong, since by providing for the offspring of imprudent 
marriages they encourage overpopulation and its attend- 
ant evils ! This in North America over a hundred years 
ago ! The Orphan House was built upon the site of the 
old ramparts, and Mr. Fraser notes that the Intendant, 
Mr. John Huger, and Mr. Smith, the orator of the day, 
who stood side by side during the opening ceremonies, 
both " patriots true and tried," had far different associa- 
tions with the precinct. 

The scourge of fire from which Charleston has suffered 
more than from war itself visited her again at this time. 
The conflagration began in an alley near the bay some- 
what northeast of St. Philip's Church, and spread as far 
south as Broad Street, where it consumed the famous 
"Corner Tavern," which had been the place of public 
meeting for many years. It was at the northeast corner 
of Broad and Church streets, opposite to the Charleston 
Library. 

The second Huguenot church was also burned in this 
fire, and St. Philip's was only saved by the courage of a 
negro sailor who climbed to the top of the tower and tore 
off the blazing shingles. Nothing else could have saved 
the building. The brave fellow received his liberty, a sum 
of money, and a fishing-boat completely equipped with nets, 
etc., for his reward. The popular verses which describe 
this scene as happening at St. Michael's, are erroneous. 



376 CHARLESTON 

Before the end of the century many of the persons men- 
tioned in this rambling story had passed away. The 
stately old gentleman, Mr. Henry Middleton, first Presi- 
dent of 'the first Continental Congress, had died full of 
years, and of honours. His wife, Lady Mary MacKenzie, 
who had paid a short visit to England, died on the return 
voyage. Mrs. Pinckney, so often quoted here, was also 
dead. These were all old; but Mr. Arthur Middleton, the 
son of Henry, and signer of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, had gone before his time, aged only forty -five, a 
victim to the fever of the country. He had been one of the 
most ardent of patriots, had supported every measure for 
the good of the State, had advocated them in a series of able 
articles signed "Andrew Marvell," and had borne the losses 
of the Revolution with an admirable cheerfulness. It was 
told that he wore a homespun suit of negro cloth with as 
much ease and grace as a velvet one, and was always an 
elegant and accomplished gentleman. His wife (Miss 
Izard), who was said to have saved General Greene's life 
by her medical skill when he lay ill of a fever at Middle- 
ton Place, long survived him. 

For no one, however, was the sorrow of the town and 
its parishes as great as for Marion. This most remarkable 
leader of "Irregular Cavalry" died in 1795. His disci- 
pline in war was so strict that when an act was introduced 
into the Legislature offering immunity for any illegal acts 
committed by the partisans, he rose with indignation. 
For himself and for his men, he said, he refused such im- 
munity. They had always obeyed the law, and asked only 
examination into their conduct. If any wrong was proved, 
they were ready to bear the penalty. 
^ Grave and taciturn while on duty, he was cordial and 
cheerful among his friends. 

Colonel Harry Lee says of him : " Marion was enthu- 
siastically wedded to the cause of liberty; . . . the com- 



WASHINGTON AND LA FAYETTE 377 

monwealth was his sole object ; nothing selfish, nothing 
mercenary, soiled his ermine character." 

Children of his own he had none; but Garden says, 
" Distinguished by integrity in all his dealings, he was the 
executor of many estates, and the guardian of many chil- 
dren. . . . No man ever lived more beloved, none ever 
died more universally and justly lamented, than the Hugue- 
not partisan, Francis Marion." 



CHAPTER XVIII 

CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 

LIFE had begun to flow in easy channels by the com- 
ing of the nineteenth century. The Revolution, 
with its subsequent jars and jangles, was a thing of the 
past ; the Republic a settled, working government. 

Strangers remarked with surprise how honestly and well 
men who had grown to manhood under the old regime, 
accepted and helped on the new. 

In principle they were Republican ; in habit and man- 
ners, all that was least so. The impositions of arbitrary 
power, the sufferings they had endured, had settled their 
convictions, but could not change their taste. There were 
many like Mr. Ralph Izard of the Elms, of whom M. de 
Chastelleux says, in his "Travels," that "with pride and 
impetuosity he ardently opposed the royal tyranny, with- 
out the slightest sympathy with democracy." 

The Federalist and Republican parties which now arose 
differed, not upon Republicanism in creed but in applica- 
tion. " The Federals advocating so strongly centralized a 
power, as approximated to Monarchy, the Republicans pro- 
fessing such levelling views that the Federals charged 
them with tending to disorganization. Each" (Dr. Ram- 
say gently observes) "did injustice to the other." 

Political parties are rarely just to their opponents, but 
it is curious to see how the signification of names has 
changed. The Republican of to-day represents the Federal 
of 1800, and it is the Democrat who is charged with Popu- 
lism, etc. 

378 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 379 

It used to be said that the adherents of the different 
factions might be known by costume! The old gentlemen 
who tied back their powdered hair, wore lace ruffles, dia- 
mond buckles, knee breeches, and silk stockings, were 
Federals — the " Friends of Washington " as they de- 
lighted to be called. 

The young men, whose locks — undisguised brown, black, 
or auburn, as nature made them — were cut in a " crop," 
who had short-waisted, high-collared coats, pudding-bag 
cravats, and " those slovenly things called pantaloons flap- 
ping about their ankles, " were Republicans ; followers of 
the brilliant and benevolent Jefferson. 

It was almost an affair of generations. The fathers 
were in one camp, the sons in another ; and although the 
mass of the people went with the sons, it is easy to under- 
stand how the unimpaired possession of social predomi- 
nance consoled the fathers for the loss of political influence. 
They were mostly elderly men, who had had their share 
of labour and power, and there was not at that time any 
especially important measure before the country. Youth 
was then still deferential, and however it might think, 
expressed itself with modesty in the presence of its elders. 
If the seniors heard of the speeches and rhapsodies poured 
forth in Republican clubs by their clever boys, why — 
they "shifted their trumpets and only took snuff." Had 
they, too, not lost their heads in 1793, — dazzled for the 
moment by the glare of the period of which the sedate 
Wordsworth wrote : — 

" Good was it in that dawn to be alive, 
But to be young was very heaven " ? 

Travellers and natives all agree as to this condition of 
things. M. de Liancourt, already quoted, says (writing 
just before Washington's death), "Society is altogether 
Federalist and devoted to the President ; the favourite 



380 CHARLESTON 

toast is ' Permanency to the Union.' ' Had they already 
any doubt of it ? 

Mr. Fraser tells of the cheery meetings of the " Cossack 
Club." 

" If we are told that the poor proscribed Federalists in 
Charleston, cut off as they were from all the honours and 
emoluments of office, were in the habit of meeting together 
weekly, it might naturally be supposed that it was for the 
purpose of interchanging sympathies, or rehearsing their 
i TristiaS But not so with the Cossack Club, which grew 
out of the peculiar condition of society at that time ; for 
a happier and more joyous set never met together to dis- 
cuss a good dinner and enjoy a glass of old wine, than 
they did at their Wednesday meetings. It had no rules, 
for every member was a law to himself, and that law was 
never known to vary. No penalty, for there was none to 
enforce it. No duty imposed on any one but to contribute 
to the very extent of his intelligence, whatever might pro- 
mote their happy and enlightened intercourse, and to pay 
two dollars for his dinner. This club was remarkable for 
every quality that had ever characterized the best private 
society of Charleston. Many of those who composed it 
had stood high in the service of their country, and brought 
to the common stock of conversation their varied know- 
ledge and experience as statesmen, diplomatists, soldiers 
and jurists. Nor was the charm of literary discourse 
wanting to give interest to their meetings. General 
Pinckney was a constant member, and always ready to 
impart information, particularly to the younger mem- 
bers. . . . 

"Many of these men were the remnant of^a, peculiar 
race of people. Born under a royal government, and 
early impressed with those exclusive feelings which rank 
and fortune create, they were characterized by a high and 
gentlemanly bearing. Most of them had been educated 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 381 

in one or other of the English Universities, and had be- 
come familiar with the highest standard of manners in 
that country. But upon the breaking out of the Revolu- 
tion, they flocked home to share the fortunes of their 
country. Such men were, in their proper element, at the 
head of society — it was theirs to maintain and transmit 
the ancient character of Charleston for intelligence, refine- 
ment and hospitality." 

All this goes to show that social life was not much 
troubled by the intrusion of the Jeffersonian Democracy, 
except in those inevitable cases where the meddlesome 
god has his way. It was troubled when a fascinating 
Republican fell in love with some fair Federalist who 
found the gentleman " vastly agreeable, 1 ' while lamenting 
that he differed from " my dear Papa." 

There was a story of one young lady who actually 
eloped from her strong-principled widowed mother, with 
a handsome young man, objectionable only for hetero- 
doxy of this kind ; who had to fight a duel with an irate 
brother-in-law before he could establish himself in the 
affections of the family. 

Another lady only got her way after months of friendly 
intercession by unimpeachable Federals, who assured the 
father that, although a Republican, the lover was a mild 
one. Both gentlemen rose to distinction, and as opinions 
became modified were even considered " respectable " ! 

There was great uneasiness about the influence that the 
new order might have upon "the minor morals called man- 
ners." Predictions were gloomy: what was to be expected 
when society should be set to the tune of "the world 
turned upside down " ? 

It is a relief to know that nothing terrible happened, and 
that good judges declare that if not quite as formal, man- 
ners were still as courteous, and in many respects more 
graceful and refined, than in the preceding century. 



382 CHARLESTON 

Travellers have left us their impressions of place and 
people in these years, and it is curious to observe that the 
peculiarities which they describe are those remarked sixty 
years later. Character and habits had already crystallized 
into the forms which they were long to maintain. 

Of the town itself one gentleman says, " a pretty place 
though dead level, lying between two noble rivers." 

Its appearance, rising from the waves, unlike anything 
else. The harbour crowded with vessels, generally for- 
eign, and many foreigners in the streets. 

The aspect of things is tropical on the shore; alongside 
are vessels from every part of the world loading and un- 
loading, — from the West Indies in particular. The 
wharves are covered with bananas, cocoanuts, coffee bags, 
etc., and rice and cotton to be shipped. The days are bright 
and sunny, he could fancy himself in equatorial regions 
again. " The Negroes (notwithstanding their degraded 
condition) looked bright and happy." 

M. de Liancourt describes particularly the gentlemen 
whom he met. His journey to Charleston was made 
agreeable by his good fortune in falling in with Mr. John 
Julius Pringle, a distinguished lawyer, whose conversation 
he enjoys. He finds the manners of the gentry more Euro- 
pean than in the Northern States, and that the ladies are 
more lively and take a greater share in conversation, but 
with perfect propriety and modesty. 

He does not — sad to say — consider them as handsome 
as the Philadelphia belles, being too pale and fading early, 
but they are interesting and agreeable. He is entertained 
at the Elms by Mr. and Mrs. Izard, whose conversation is 
delightful. He visits Ashley River, and thinks Drayton 
Hall the handsomest place he sees. His friend Mr. Pringle 
is busy building and planting trees at his place near 
by — then called " Greenfield." Mr. Pringle thinks of 
calling it "Susan's Villa," in compliment to his wife. 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 383 

Luckily the attorney-general (whom Mr. Thomas says is 
" good as great ") determined upon " Runnyniede," by 
which name the beautiful place is still known. 

The duke described the abounding hospitality and the 
too liberal style of housekeeping, the crowd of servants. 
" In no part of the globe is so much hospitality practised 
as in America, nor can it anywhere be better exercised 
than in South Carolina. . . . A Carolinian, though not very 
opulent, rarely has less than twenty servants in attendance 
on his table, his stables, and his kitchen . . . and yet 
things are not neatly kept, and are often shabby. There 
are few families who do not keep a chaise or a coach, and 
ladies rarely set foot on the streets." 

Mr. Thomas declares that it is "the most aristocratic 
city in the Union notwithstanding her Jacobinism " and 
that " Political professions were of Jefferson's school, but 
practice aristocracy complete." 

All of which, with but slight alteration, might have 
been written in 1860. 

One most honourable trait of the period was the atten- 
tion and deference paid to age, character, and public service. 
Every man's record was known, and won from his com- 
patriots a respect that wealth was powerless to buy. 

A gentleman some years ago told his son that his 
father, Mr. John Huger, a distinguished patriot, had 
always been accustomed, as his house had no piazzas, to 
take his tea, in fine summer weather, on the broad side- 
walk in front of his door. The table was brought out 
and arranged, and passing friends would stop for a cup 
and a chat. 

" How did he manage with the people going by ? " asked 
the son. 

M You surely do not suppose," said the astonished 
father, " that any one would intrude upon the old gentle- 
man ! Of course when people saw him, if they were not 



384 CHARLESTON 

his friends, they crossed the street and walked on the other 
side, not to annoy him ! " 

If a man had been a gallant soldier, his privileges were 
great. General Peter Horry was Marion's senior colonel 
and right-hand man, a most highly respected citizen. He, 
however, had the bad habit of the day which was that of 
u our army in Flanders." On his annual journey from 
his plantation near Georgetown to Charleston, he always 
stopped for a visit at Mrs. Daniel Horry's on South Santee. 
Mrs. Horry was something of a martinet, and kept even 
her soldier brothers in order. " Charles, Charles, — you 
forget, — the girls," would come, if General Pinckney 
rapped out an oath. But when Cousin Peter arrived, Mrs. 
Horry endured smilingly, — and if the young ladies bridled 
and looked down, they were reproved sharply, " Girls — 
none of that. Peter can swear when and where he chooses." 

Had he not been Marion's favourite captain ? It was 
General Peter Horry to whom the ingenious Parson 
Weems chose to ascribe the honour of having collaborated 
with him, in the amusing piece of fiction which he called 
the "Life of Marion." The general vigorously denied 

any share in what he termed " a pack of d d lies," and 

swore if ever Weems dared to set foot in Georgetown 
County, he himself would break every bone in his body. 
The ingenious Parson did not enjoy that form of criticism 
and kept out of his way. 

One important change of custom that took place about 
this time was, that in consequence of the increased un- 
healthiness of the country the planters spent more time 
in the city than they had been accustomed to do. 

The clearing of the forests, the embankment of the 
rivers, the flowing of the lowlands, had so added to the viru- 
lence of the malarial fever, then known as " the fever of the 
country," that people who had formerly stayed on their 
places until August now left them early in May. This 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 385 

brought people together for six months, who had formerly 
met for only three. By 1800 the system of agriculture 
was well understood, and both overseers and negroes were 
expert in their work. The minute supervision of the 
master was no longer so essential ; and although many 
went to pinelands or sea islands near at hand, from which 
they could make frequent visits to the plantations, those 
who could afford to hire responsible overseers generally 
came to town. 

The year was usually divided in this way. As soon as 
the first frost had fallen in November, which was supposed 
to kill the malaria, the family departed for the country. 
It was often a two days' journey — sixty or seventy miles 
of sandy road and corduroy causeway. From November 
to the end of January every one was on the plantation — 
busy with the thousand duties and many pleasures of that 
pleasant life. Christmas came in then, and was a great 
domestic festival for white and black. The Legislature 
always adjourned, that the members might be at home at 
the sacred season. If the family consisted of father, 
mother, and little children, or if it was an elderly house- 
hold, it remained at home until early in May. But if 
there were young people, especially grown-up girls, the 
call of the " gay season " brought them to town again, by 
the end of January. The St. Cecilias, the Dancing Assem- 
blies, the Philharmonic Concerts, the races, and above all 
the Jockey Ball, came then. 

Race week, the Charleston carnival, brought even the 
most devoted planter to town for that time at least. He 
admired the horses, enjoyed the sport, met friends from 
all over the State, talked with the ladies in the coaches or 
the Grand Stand, danced at the ball, interviewed his fac- 
tor, got his crop account (the rice was sold by February), 
and — it is to be hoped — paid his bills. It was the busi- 
ness, as well as the pleasure appointment for many men, who 
2c 



386 CHARLESTON 

went back to their fields with sentiments akin to those 
of the Scotchman who, after Sir Walter's annual hunt, told 
his wife to " let me sleep till next year, for Ailie woman, 
there's only one day worth living, and that's the day of 
the Abbotsford hunt." 

By the end of March all were back in the country 
again. The master had gone sooner, for March and April, 
when all work was going on, and the grain must be sown, 
were important and delightful months there. All things 
springing green and the air fragrant with jessamine, dog- 
wood, and magnolia, while mocking and red birds sung on 
every bough. May — fairest of months elsewhere — has a 
heavy, sickly beauty in the lowlands of the South; at this 
time, when the virtues of quinine were imperfectly known, 
the beauty was deadly. As soon as the streams and ponds 
looked green and ugly, the ladies were hurried off, and 
the gentleman followed as soon as the work permitted. 
He also made occasional visits to the place through the 
summer ; and too many men lost their lives by exposing 
themselves at harvest time in the fields, in the deadly 
months of August and September. 

Thus it was that the planters were more than ever as 
much townsfolk as country gentlemen, and are justly de- 
scribed by Mr. Henry Adams in his history of " Jefferson's 
Administration," as " the little oligarchy of rice and cotton 
planters who ruled Charleston." 

Their rule was undisputed, for at that time Charleston 
presented the singular condition of a city with a large 
trade entirely managed by foreigners ! With the passing 
of the English the commercial spirit had gone from Caro- 
lina ; the land had claimed her sons. They (with the 
exception of those in the learned professions, most of 
whom were planters also) were all agriculturists, "the 
first and best occupation of man." 

There were now no more native merchants, enlightened, 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 387 

wealthy, and influential, such as Henry Laurens, Christo- 
pher Gadsden, Gabriel Manigault, and the Shubricks had 
been. 

. Their place was taken entirely by strangers, chiefly 
English and Scotch, who kept to themselves, had their 
own clubs, and contented with the large fortunes which 
they accumulated, took no part in public affairs, "nor 
was there a man among them who took an active interest 
in politics." 

The planters, it must be said, ruled their little dominion 
well and generously. " They," says Mr. Adams, " were 
travellers, readers, and scholars." The elder men had 
been educated abroad, the younger inherited the traditions 
of their fathers. The advantages which they had enjoyed 
had taught them to see the needs of others — needs not 
always recognized by those who lacked. Chief of these 
was education for the State at large. A plan for a 
central college had been sketched out, and still exists in 
the handwriting of John Rutledge, but it had never been 
put into execution. It was brought up again under the 
administration of Governor John Drayton (author of the 
" Memoirs " so often quoted here), and the bill was 
carried through the Legislature against the wishes of the 
up-country ! 

Chancellor De Saussure (son of the lady whose peti- 
tion to Balfour has been given) was only eighteen when 
thrown into a prison-ship, and sent to St. Augustine. 
Since then he had studied and graduated at Princeton. 
He had much to do with carrying through the bill, and 
says : — 

" We of the lower country well knew that the power 
of the State was thenceforward to be in the upper coun- 
try, and we desired that our rulers should be educated 
men." 

The hardy farmers of the up-country, however, were far 



388 CHARLESTON 

from recognizing their own requirements, and shuddered 
at the very modest sum which the friends of the measure 
asked for its execution. Ralph Izard writes to Mr. Jef- 
ferson, " A handicraftsman knows that an apprenticeship 
is necessary to acquaint him with his business, but our 
back countrymen are of opinion that a politician may be 
born as well as a poet." 

Judge O'Neale, in his "Bench and Bar of South Carolina," 
adds, " They " (the planters) " forced education upon the 
up-country, for, strange to say, it was very much opposed 
to the College." 

This feeling, however, soon passed away and the insti- 
tution has, to a remarkable degree, realized the hope ex- 
pressed by Governor Drayton that it might prove u a 
rallying point of union, friendship, and learning for the 
youth from all parts of the State." 

To show what manner of men were these should not 
be difficult to one who, like the writer, remembers well, in 
age, many of those who in 1800 were already grown to 
manhood. Yet to paint the picture of a people is not easy. 

Some traits they had in common, traits springing from 
the creed of their race. They were brave, and truthful, 
and manly; to be otherwise would be disgrace. They 
were formal in address, but in society had the courteous 
ease of manner that comes from generations of assured 
position, and of living amongst one's peers. 

To women they were charmingly and carefully polite ; it 
was always chapeau-bas in the presence of ladies. Mothers 
and wives were queens to sons and husbands; the slightest 
offence offered to them was cause of battle. The men 
were, it must be confessed, quick of temper, too prone to 
resent even a trifling wrong; both proud and passionate, 
but generous and liberal to a fault ; faithful in friendship, 
but fierce in enmity. 

The lodestar of their lives was " the point of honour." 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 389 

A man's word must be better than his bond, because un- 
guaranteed. A woman's name must never pass his lips 
except in respect; a promise, however foolish, must be 
kept. If he had wronged any man, he must offer his life 
in expiation. He must always be ready to fight for the 
State or for his lady. This was the unwritten law which 
made "the chivalry." 

These were general characteristics ; but there were great 
unWcenesses among them ; for that which most marked a 
planter was his intense individuality, — a certain haughty 
indifference to conventional usage. The separateness of 
their lives — each ruling his own world, doing that which 
seemed good unto himself, forming his own opinions, de- 
ciding his own problems — caused a certain originality of 
mind and peculiarity of manner which gave zest and in- 
terest to society. Their life being far removed from that 

"Where ground in yonder social mill 
We rub each others' angles down 
And merge ... in form and gloss 
The picturesque of man and man." 

"Most planters," says Ramsay, "have respectable libra- 
ries for their own use." It is hard to tell what, to the good 
doctor, constituted "a respectable library," but in many 
country houses there was a " book-room," to use the old 
word ; and if not, at least one or two well-filled book-cases. 
At Middleton Place, Pinckney Island, and some other 
plantations there were valuable collections. The favourite 
books besides the classics (which canonically ranked all 
others) were the Shakespeare and Montaigne, which dis- 
puted the honour of being " the Planter's Bible." Conned 
over and over again in the long winter evenings, they 
were known by heart. Some men read them every day 
and spoke in their phrases. " Why do you read that old 
Montaigne so constantly ? " asked a pert young person of 



390 CHARLESTON 

fifteen of a gentleman sixty years her senior. "Why, 
child," was the surprised answer, " there is in this book 
all that a gentleman needs to think about; " then quickly 
adding " not a book for little girls." The wives of these 
gentlemen were " helpmeets " in every sense of the word. 
Girls were very carefully brought up then. Mrs. Mon- 
tague, Mrs. Chapone, and Mrs. Hannah More were advis- 
ing plans for female education, or rather female training, 
of remarkable good sense and discretion. Their books 
were studied in Charleston by all the anxious mothers, and 
the results were not only " elegant females," but useful 
women, — good housekeepers and good managers as their 
mothers had been before them; active and busy both by 
training and by position, as mistresses of many servants, 
and, generally, mothers of many children. Some were, of 
course, superior to others in talent and education, — Mrs. 
Ramsay, the daughter of Henry Laurens, educated in Ge- 
neva, remarkably so. Miss Maria Drayton is mentioned as 
a " scientific botanist" ; Mrs. Wilkinson's letters are lively 
and graphic; and the Due de Liancourt's testimony to 
their agreeable and intelligent conversation has already 
been quoted. 

This extract from the letter of one young sister to an- 
other, both recently married, shows what might have been 
found on a girl's private book-shelf. These ladies had been 
for some time at school in France, which accounts for the 
predominance of French books. They were Mrs. Francis 
Kinloch Huger and Mrs. William Lowndes, daughters of 
General Thomas Pinckney. Mrs. Huger writes, . . . "We 
spent eight days at El Dorado " (her father's plantation), 
"and while there I made a division of our books, and packed 
them up to be sent to town. Your box to be left at Mr. 
Dart's " (the factor's), " and mine to be sent to Waccamaw " 
(the river on which her plantation, "Alderley," was). 
" The only alteration which I made was exchanging with 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 391 

you the eight vols, of Mad. de Sevigne for the eight of 
Moliere." 

List of books belonging to Mrs. William Lowndes: — 

Dictionnaire Historique, 9 vols. Recueil Choisi, 1. 
Elemens d'Histoire de France, 3. Magazin des Eiifants, 2. 

(Euvres de Racine, 3. Trimmer's Introduction, 1. 

Fables de La Fontaine, 2. Adam's Modern Voyages, 2. 

Metamorphose d'Ovide, 3. Trip to Holland, 1. 

Dictionnaire de Ja Fable, 1. Tales of Instruction, 2. 

(Euvres de Boileau, 1. Goldsmith's History of Greece. 

(Euvres de Regna, 4. Adam's Flowers of History. 

Annales de la Vertu, 2. Enfield's Speaker. 

Lecons d'une Gouvernante, 2. English Classics abridged. 

Telemaque, 2. Reflections for Every Day. 

Tresors du Parnasse, 5. Lettres Mad. de Sevigne, 8. 

Gil Bias, 4. Some old maps, grammars, etc. 
Drames Sacre, 1. 



It would be interesting to know what the other half of 
the books were, but that knowledge is beyond our reach. 

As is usually the case after periods of great strain and 
stress, the world was gay from reaction in the years that 
followed the Revolution; but it is surprising that, under 
such very adverse circumstances, the expensive sport of 
racing should have been so soon revived. 

It shows how fixed it was in the habits of the people. 
The stables had been broken up by the war; the thorough- 
breds had been used for troopers — many had been killed 
or carried off. One of Tarleton's first exploits had been 
capturing four hundred horses, "sixty famous ones," of 
which he tells with natural glee in his memoirs. 

Nevertheless by 1789 the racing began again, and Ir- 
ving's " History of the Turf " gives a long list of imported 
animals, all of high degree. There were new names on 
the turf, too; for the middle country entered heartily into 
the sport, and Colonel Wade Hampton, General Sum- 



392 CHARLESTON 

ter, the Taylors, Richardsons, and others, soon became 
prominent. 

Nothing could exceed the enthusiasm of the negro grooms 
and jockeys on these occasions. Identifying themselves 
with their masters, as they always did, it was " my horse " 
to the trainer and the rider, quite as much as to the owner. 
There is a story of one little fellow who always rode the 
mare " Rocksanna." Shortly before an approaching race 
the boy fell ill. He recovered before the day, but was 
left with one foot swollen and weak. His master, General 
McPherson, decided that he was not well enough to ride; 
another lad must wear the gay jacket. But the boy, ter- 
ribly distressed, pleaded and entreated, protesting that the 
mare would never win with another rider, and that his 
foot "did not count." 

The master yielded and the boy rode. The foot did 
count somewhat, for being swelled, the pressure of the stir- 
rup hurt it, and to relieve the pain he threw his weight 
too much on the other side. The leather broke, but before 
the stirrup could fall, the boy caught it, stuck it in his 
teeth, and brought Rocksanna in ahead, having saved 
his weight by the stirrup in his mouth! The prize in this 
race was a large, handsome bowl with race horses embossed 
around the outside. 

The appearance of the course was in one respect gayer 
than formerly. There were the same fine animals, the 
same gentlemen in the glossiest of top-boots and white 
buckskin breeches, but the use of coaches had now become 
general. There had been some of an earlier date, for a 
picture of Lady Mary Middleton's with the arms on the 
panels still remains, and her ladyship died in 1786. In 
the same year Mrs. Horry ordered from England "that 
article of luxury, a coach," and sent Messrs. Savage, Bird, 
and Savage a hundred tierces of rice to pay for it. 

These were unusual at the earlier time, and chaises, how- 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 393 

ever handsome, could not make the same imposing effect. 
They were handsome also, sometimes, as shown by the 
advertisement of one in 1739 by Mr. Middleton (who was 
going to England), " To be sold a four-wheeled chaise, 
neatly carved and gilt, lined with crimson coffroy (?) with 
iron axletrees, with new set of harness for four horses, at 
my plantation," etc. The plantation was the beautiful 
place Crowfield on Goose Creek, mentioned before. 

The coaches, though ugly in shape, were very ornamental 
in colour and gilding; round-bodied, hung high on C- 
springs, with high box draped with hammer cloth, on which 
sat an important coachman. Behind was a foot-board 
on which stood a footman, who clung for dear life to bands 
which depended from the back, and sprang down to unfold 
the flight of steps, down which his mistress carefully, with 
hand on his sleeve, descended to the ground. Hammer- 
cloth, bands, and liveries all matched, and the doors fre- 
quently bore the crests of their owners! 

Some of these coaches were wide enough to accommodate 
three persons on a seat, and they must have been at least 
four feet from the ground. A few of these unwieldy 
vehicles were in occasional use as late as 1840-1845. The 
writer remembers one — a survival — which to her youth- 
ful imagination was the prototype of Cinderella's pumpkin. 
It was round and bright yellow, with a great quantity of 
gilding, lined with brown velvet ; hammer-cloth and bands 
to match. 

A very old lady, Miss Polly Roupell, the " fair Roupell " 
of the Revolution, who was said to have gone unmarried 
all her days for the sake of her English lover killed in the 
war, used to ride in one of the last of these, long after they 
had gone out of general use. By that time manners w r ere 
no longer what they had been in the days of her youth, 
and there were unmannerly boys. If a group of these 
urchins, playing on one of the innumerable "greens " which 



394 CHARLESTON 

intersected the town, laughed and jeered at the antiquated 
vehicle, the former belle would put her head out of the 
window and cry, " You may laugh as much as you like; 
it is old, but ifs paid for, anyway." Every one respected 
Miss Polly, Loyalist though she was, and if the boys were 
caught, they were well cuffed. 

Sometimes the races were unprofessional. One of the 
most noted was between the afterward famous John Ran- 
dolph of Roanoke and Sir John Nesbit of Dean Hall, Cooper 
River, each riding his own horse. Randolph won the race, 
but Sir John won the ladies' hearts, — " they called him 
the prettier fellow." 

Besides the public entertainments there were many pri- 
vate ones, for the houses were quite large enough to accom- 
modate the limited society of the time, and there were 
persons who made it a point to give a ball every year be- 
sides dinners and "carpet dances." 

A ball would have been a troublesome matter, there be- 
ing no caterers or decorators, but for the number of well- 
trained servants which made things easy. Nothing gave 
more satisfaction in the servants' hall than the house- 
keeper's announcement " we'se gwine hab a ball nex' week." 
Ordinary tasks were dropped and all was joyful preparation. 

Rugs or carpets were rolled back and removed, the waxed 
floors rubbed to still brighter polish; the chandeliers, with 
their long glittering drops, and the girandoles on the little 
convex mirrors, were filled with wax candles; the linen 
slips, with which careful housewives kept their chairs and 
sofas covered, removed; one or two " nosegays " placed 
in the tall china or cut-glass jars on the high carved mantel- 
pieces, and all was ready. Many of the rooms were already 
so handsome, with their panelled walls, carved woodwork, 
and coved ceilings, long mirrors in gilt frames, and pic- 
tures (generally portraits), that they really needed no tran- 
sient decorations. 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 395 

People of all ages went to balls and danced, — sedately 
in a minuet, merrily in a country dance. There was gen- 
erally some formality in the opening of the ball. A min- 
uet " performed " by two or more important personages 
began it " high and disposedly." 

One of the first balls after the war, says Mr. Fraser, was 
opened by General Moultrie, who, in full regimentals, 
danced the minuet with a lady of " suitable age " whom he 
soon afterward married. As Moultrie was certainly fifty- 
three at this time, and his proposed bride not too young 
for him, the dance was probably "stately." 

But there was nothing stately about the country dance, 
in which grandfathers danced with their grandchildren, 
and mothers with their sons. When the negro fiddlers 
struck up " hands across and down the middle," young and 
old joined in, happy as children. 

In some respects the manners were formal. The chap- 
erons sat in a row, looking, we are told, " like a Roman 
Senate," which must have been terrifying to a timid youth. 
The partner (always in satin breeches and silk stockings, 
the pantaloon not being yet permitted in the ball-room), 
approached with profound bows to mother and maid, and 
bent with hand on heart to ask if he might be permitted 
the honour of the dance. The damsel courtesied (not too 
low), looked to her mamma, and replied that she would 
have the pleasure of dancing with Mr. So-and-So, with 
proper indifference and reserve of tone. Then by the tips 
of her fingers he led her to the floor. Yet even this was 
innovation, for the gentleman would have been expected 
to write a note to the mamma to solicit the honour, a fort- 
night before the assembly, in the good old days, — 

" When gallants galloped counties over 
The ball's fair partner to behold, 
Thanked for the honour she had done him 
And humbly hoped she'd caught no cold." 



396 CHARLESTON 

Suppers were elaborate. Boned turkeys, game, terra- 
pin stews (only they called it " cooter stew "), etc. The 
pastry-cook and her assistants had been at work for a week, 
making jellies, creams, custards, cakes of all kinds, — all 
made at home. Sometimes there would be a flight of imag- 
ination. Two doves of blanc-mange in a nest of fine, gold- 
coloured transparent shreds of candied orange peel was 
thought " sweetly pretty "; and a tall iced cake in the shape 
of a castle, with the American flag on the tower, and the 
arms in coloured comfits on the walls, appealed to the pa- 
triotic. Greatest of dishes was "a preserve of fowle." 
Does any one wish the receipt ? It began, " Take all man- 
ner of Fowle and bone them all " ; the rest of the precise 
words are unfortunately lost, but the direction was, to be- 
gin with a small dove, into which slip a strip of bacon; put 
the dove into a partridge, the partridge (quail they are 
mistakenly called now) into a guinea hen, the guinea hen 
into a wild duck, the duck into a capon, the capon into a 
goose, the goose into a turkey (or a peacock if it- please 
you best), — each bird to be well basted and seasoned be- 
fore inserted, care being taken to place white and dark 
meat alternately. Roast all until done through, and serve 
with their own very rich seasoned gravy. The carver cut 
down, through, and across the birds, and the guests ate — 
and lived! 

There were wines — the old Madeira, that had been 
warming and ripening many a year in cedar-shingled gar- 
rets; Port, and others; and a delicious rum punch made 
with pineapple, limes, etc., only too fascinating. 

The company enjoyed themselves ; but what was their 
pleasure to that of the darkies, who, for days before, had 
revelled in the bustle of preparation, and were now gazing 
with delight at the guests, and expecting the reversion of 
the feast ? No master in the South could keep his windows 
clear, on a ball night, of ebony faces and gleaming eyes 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 397 

that took in every detail. It was one of their privileges; 
and no sooner had the company departed than the musi- 
cians adjourned to the servants' hall, the remains of the 
supper were carried out, and a second fete, even gayer 
than the first, was stopped only by the rising of the 
sun. 

The costume of the ladies by this time had changed, like 
that of their partners. No more were the rich brocades 
and damasks, the plumes and powder ; instead, the scanti- 
est and shortest of gowns — bodies at most eight inches 
long and skirts of two or three breadths, according to width 
of stuff and size of the wearer, coming barely to the ankles. 
The stuff was the softest satin, India silk, or muslin, that 
could be found; the feet clad in heelless slippers, tied with 
ribbons that crossed about the instep. The hair, descended 
from the high estate given it by the last and fairest of 
French queens, hung in loose waves upon the neck, until 
the awful fashion of wigs came in. When this strange 
mania prevailed, it was hardly thought decent to wear one's 
own hair. No matter how long, how thick, how beautiful, 
the ruthless scissors must clip it close, and a horrible con- 
struction by a hair-dresser take its place. It is really grew- 
some, when one remembers that the hair was especially 
recommended as " coming from France," — that is, from 
the guillotine! 

The wig fashion did not last long, — only a year or two; 
then came the Grecian, — • bands and plaits, or short curls on 
the forehead, and next turbans. One sees the turban in 
many of Sully's early pictures, and they are lovely and 
becoming; but, then, all Sully's sitters were, apparently, 
houris! 

The following letter is taken from " Our Forefathers," 
sketches by " The Ancient Lady," Mrs. Poyas of Charles- 
ton. It is from Mrs. Logan to her mother, Mrs. Webb, 
on the marriage of her brother to the daughter of Major 



398 CHARLESTON 

Ladson, a brave Revolutionary officer, whose daughters 
were remarkable for beauty. 

"The first and most interesting piece of intelligence 
which I have for you, my dear Mother, is that my dear 
Brother" (Mr. Webb) "is happily united to his Miss Eliza 
Ladson. . . . The bride looked very genteel and pretty; 
her style was extremely plain, — nothing but a fine India 
muslin, trimmed with handsome lace round the neck and 
sleeves, with a very wide footing let in the front and sleeves. 

" She wore a silk cord and tassel round the waist. Her 
head-dress was two ostrich feathers which was very becom- 
ing. The company were sociable and agreeable. . . . 
Even I managed to dance at the wedding; having no 
other brother to be married how could I help it ? 

" I send you some of my new ratifia to drink with the 
cake," — ratifia of her own making, of course. 

The number of servants kept then often causes surprise; 
but considering the climate, and the conditions of life, it 
could hardly be otherwise, and it made things delightfully 
easy. 

No one can have comfort or satisfaction who expects to 
get from negro servants the steady systematic work which 
enables one or two French or English women to keep a large 
house in perfect order. But given enough well-trained, 
obedient, merry, good-natured darkies, a household will 
run smoothly. By " enough " is meant so many that each 
can perform his day's duties in half a day, and enjoy the 
rest of his time in talking, singing, and loitering, — which 
was for many years the usual condition of things, and is 
certainly shocking to economic theories. 

An average Charleston household of the wealthy class 
usually had a housekeeper, and her assistant, a mauma, 
and as many nursery maids as there were children in the 
house. These were rival potentates, and relations were 
apt to be a little strained. Each lady had her maid, who 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 399 

was always a sempstress and a clearstarcher. If the cook 
was a woman, she had a girl in training and a boy scullion 
to help her ; and there were as many laundresses as the size 
of the family required. There was a butler and one or 
more footmen. A gentleman usually had a body-servant, 
and the coachman had under him as many grooms and 
stable boys as the horses kept demanded. 

It sounds immense and would have been impossible but 
for the ample supplies brought by boat from the planta- 
tions. Also the assistants were generally the children of 
the elder servants, and were really understudies learning 
their work. By 1800 there were often three generations 
of house servants in one establishment, and the unbroken 
training made them invaluable. Housekeeper, butler, 
coachman, each was supreme in his or her own depart- 
ment, but " Mauma " was esteemed above all, for she not 
only ruled " my children" and the nursery maids, but by 
virtue of experience often also ruled the young mistress, 
conscious of want of knowledge of those precious first 
babies. 

The confidence was rewarded by the most faithful service 
to the mistress, and passionate love to her charges. That 
tie never failed; in the darkest days of Carolina's history 
" Mauma " was ever true. 

A household of this sort which had gone undisturbed 
for two or three generations was a little world in itself; 
old people lingered on and were given affectionate tend- 
ance; children were born and cared for. It was all one 
big family. " My servants next to my children," the old 
ladies used to say. The master and mistress seemed 
highest of "created beings to their servants, who shone in 
their reflected light, and placed their pride in belonging 
to u we gran' fambly." 

In these first years of the century there passed away 
many of the most prominent men of the Revolution. 



400 CHARLESTON 

In 1800 died Rawlins Lowndes, and John and Edward 
Rutledge; in 1801 Bishop Smith. In 1805 Generals Gads- 
den and Moultrie. 

Of these six patriots, three are buried in the eastern 
churchyard of St. Philip's, Edward Rutledge opposite the 
south door, and Rawlins Lowndes in a vault near by. 

The exact spot of Gadsden's grave is not known. He 
ordered that it should be levelled and left unmarked, 
" disliking ostentation of any kind." Bishop Smith rests 
within the church, near the chancel of which he had been 
rector forty-two years. It is surprising that the very 
full inscription on Mr. Edward Rutledge's stone does not 
mention that he signed the Declaration of Independence! 

John Rutledge lies in the southern part of St. Michael's 
churchyard ; an upright, gray slab, with only the date 
and the name " John Rutledge," marks his grave. 

Moultrie, the citizens and soldiers having given " this 
revered and beloved patriot the most honourable and re- 
spectable funeral," was interred probably in St. John's, but 
the spot is not known. 

All these men were happy in the esteem, honour, and 
confidence of their countrymen ; but of them all, Gadsden 
must have felt, in dying, the purest satisfaction. Often 
rash and indiscreet, but always brave, and true, and abso- 
lutely disinterested ; the chivalric first leader of the Revo- 
lution, the first true Republican of Carolina, lived to see 
the doctrines which he alone had in the beginning advo- 
cated, become the principle and law of the nation. What 
he had struggled for in youth he still approved. in age; 
declaring his devotion to the American cause unchanged, 
"believing it to be that of liberty and human nature." 

The old men were going day by day, but there was no 
lack of younger ones, ready and eager to take their part 
in the battle of life, and especially public life. 

The Carolinian then had belonged so long to the gov- 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 401 

erning class that politics seemed his natural career. To 
that career the law was the stepping-stone, and the best 
talent of the place went to the Bar. 

The Bar was a strong one, and the emoluments great. 
Mr. Fraser quotes the Due de Liancourt as saying that 
four of the elder gentlemen, General C. C. Pinckney, Mr. 
Edward Rutledge, Mr. J. J. Pringle, and Mr. Holmes, 
made by their profession from eighteen to twenty-three 
thousand dollars a year. Mr. Fraser adds that there were 
eight or ten others whose incomes amounted to eight or 
ten thousand. This he explains by saying: " The exten- 
sive commercial business of Charleston at that time opened 
a wide field of litigation. Our courts were constantly 
employed in heavy insurance cases — in questions of char- 
ter party, foreign and inland bills of exchange, and in ad- 
justing foreign claims. There was also a good deal of 
business in admiralty, and, occasionally, a rich prize case. 
Then again, new questions were continually arising out 
of the then recent acts of our Legislature. Points now 
settled were then open to construction, involving consider- 
able amounts of property. Titles of land were not ad- 
justed, or their limits ascertained; and finally, Charleston 
was then divided into two strongly defined parties, to one 
or other of which every citizen belonged, that of debtor 
and creditor." 

Of these ambitious young lawyers Mr. (afterward Chan- 
cellor) De Saussure, Langdon Cheves, William Drayton, 
William Crafts, Robert Y. Hayne, Daniel Elliott Huger 
(afterward Judge), and Hugh S. Legare were to become 
the most widely known. The times were quiet enough 
now, but opportunities for distinction were soon to 
come. 

In 1795, the difficulty of continuing the English Church, 
while refusing allegiance to its temporal head, being over- 
come, Charleston had had the satisfaction of receiving 

2d 



402 CHARLESTON 

her first bishop. Mr. Smith was consecrated to that high 
office in Christ Church, Pennsylvania, in September of that 
year. This was only the second consecration which had 
taken place in America. He retained the rectorship of St. 
Philip's, bringing out the Rev. Thomas Frost as his assist- 
ant, and afterward his successor in that church. 

The Reverend Mr. Purcell was still rector of St. Mi- 
chael's, but there, too, were changes. The clerk, who had 
led the responses, given out the psalms, and been only less 
important than the parson himself, was given up, and the 
choir of surpliced boys (the existence of which up to 1807 
is proved by the laundress's bill for washing the surplices) 
discontinued; and that the St. Cecilia band should supple- 
ment the organ was now decided to be objectionable! 

On one shocking occasion St. Michael's was distinctly 
snubbed by the city! The congregation, being disturbed 
by the passing of vehicles, prayed that it might be allowed 
to stretch chains across the streets during the hours of 
divine service ! Broad and Meeting are the chief thorough- 
fares, and the city ungraciously refused to allow their 
obstruction, but granted a policeman to control the traffic ! 
It was not until 1832 that the vestry resolved to allow no 
more public meetings to be held in the church. Those 
were the days of the nullification excitement, and the pro- 
ceedings were probably too emphatic to be suitable for the 
sacred precincts. No one can dispute the propriety of the 
change, but it adds to the historic interest of the building 
to remember that it was the people's gathering-place for 
patriotic as well as for sacred purposes. 

The Church of Rome first acquired a habitation in Charles- 
ton at this time. During the colonial period there had 
been few Catholics there; for freedom of worship had been 
granted only to " all Protestants"; but by 1786 there were 
a good many. At first they held their services in a private 
house at the corner of Tradd and Orange streets ; but in 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 403 

1801 the first St. Mary's was begun, making the nine- 
teenth place of worship in the town. In this church- 
yard are many stones to the St. Domingan refugees. 
Among them a large tomb covers the remains of the 
Demoiselles de Grasse, the daughters of Admiral Count 
de Grasse, the commander of the French auxiliary fleet 
during the Revolution. 

The Presbyterians were also a large and very influential 
body, and there were many other sects, of which the 
Baptists were the most numerous. 

The Huguenot church which had been burned in the 
great fire of 1796, in which St. Philip's had so narrowly 
escaped destruction, had been rebuilt, but from the change 
of language and other causes its congregation had been 
greatly reduced, most of its members having joined the 
Episcopal Church. 

The people of Charleston at that period have been ac- 
cused of a want of religious piety and zeal. The accusa- 
tion is hardly borne out by the letters and private prayers 
which are sometimes found in old chests and desks; or 
by the large preponderance of religious books in the old 
bookcases (most of them, alas, now destroyed by war or 
by fire). Dr. Ramsay says that the librarian of the 
Charleston Library informs him (in 1808) that religious 
books are more in demand than any others. 

Perhaps this unfavourable comparison may be owing to 
the fact that the prevailing form of religion was the Angli- 
can, the language and expressions of which appear re- 
served and ordered when compared with the fervent 
utterances of the descendants of the Puritans, or with 
the enthusiastic speech of the Methodists. Yet " The 
grave ritual brought from England's shore " satisfies the 
hearts that love it, more than the most impassioned of 
extemporaneous prayers : and the man who read his " Holy 
Living and Dying" should have had a heart as full of 



404 CHABLESTON 

love to God, as his who studied " The Saint's Everlasting 
Rest." 

There is little to be said of the science of those days. 
The Medical Society is called " the only scientific associa- 
tion," but there was no Medical College, or hospital, and 
the doctors had to go to Edinburgh or Philadelphia for 
an education. 

An impulse had been given to the study of botany by 
the influence of Dr. Garden. Mr. Stephen Elliott was 
soon to publish his " Botany of South Carolina," and Mr. 
Henry Middleton, General C. C. Pinckney, and Dr. Mac- 
bride of St. John's are mentioned as "Scientific botanists." 

No account of this community of country gentlemen 
would be complete which did not include the factors, 
the only gentlemen of native birth except the bankers 
who did any kind of business. 

The factor was well named, for he was the factotum of 
the planter. He furnished the money with which the crop 
was planted; made all needful purchases for the coun- 
try family, from plantation supplies to pocket handker- 
chiefs ; received the rice and cotton when sent to market ; 
got the best possible price from the merchant to whom he 
sold it; kept all the accounts, and tried to make his 
client understand them ; was the general friend, adviser, 
and confidant; and, as one gentleman said, " Relieved them 
of the necessity of thinking about disagreeable things." 

It would be hard to say to what need " Send to the 
factor" was not answer sufficient. 

Unluckily the planters were too often encouraged, by 
the ease with which money was thus furnished them, to 
extravagance and debt; many men hardly looked at their 
accounts and, without any dishonesty on the part of the 
agent, estates became involved. How could it be other- 
wise when it was the common joke against the planters 
that " they could read Homer and make a speech to ex- 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 405 

plain the Constitution, but couldn't do a sum in vulgar 
fractions ? " 

The offices of the factors and the warehouses of the 
merchants were upon the bay, and the shopping streets 
were not far off, — the eastern ends of Broad and Tradcl, 
and Elliott streets. These shops were more varied in their 
contents than a department store. A planter could buy 
his Welch Plains and Osnaburghs (for negro clothes) at 
one counter, his shoes and harness at another, and his 
groceries at a third; while his Avife was choosing satin and 
laces, or India china, at yet others. 

Only the jewellers, of whom there were two, kept their 
wares apart, and so did Mr. Muirhead, who had " a very 
respectable book store " in Elliott Street, where there were 
also a good boarding-house and a bank. 

No one would care to live in Elliott Street to-day, nor 
would any lady be seen there. 

The very picturesque country trade, carried on by long, 
white-topped waggons, with four or six mules or horses 
harnessed to each, and piled high with cotton bales, was 
carried on very high up King Street. The waggons were 
drawn up in yards near the present railway station, and 
the waggoners slept each on or under his vehicle, with his 
dog at his feet and his rifle at his side. The cotton un- 
loaded and sold, the list of goods sent down with it was 
bought and packed, and back they went on their long 
journey to the very confines of the State, or sometimes be- 
yond them. Everything that was wanted for the year 
went at one time in these trips, to places remote from the 
rivers, and large fortunes were made in these yards, before 
the railroad was built, in the embargo time which was now 
at hand. 

There was not what is now called " a residential portion " 
of the city. People lived where it pleased them, were often 
widely scattered and their houses surrounded by large 



406 CHARLESTON 

tracts of land. There were many fine houses along the 
upper part of the bay, where was a fine view of the harbour, 
and in Ansonborough and in Broad and the streets below 
it. 

There was no East Battery, and Fort Mechanic stood on 
the last point of solid land; but on South Bay there were 
some fine houses. The only two that remain are Gen- 
eral William Washington's at the corner of Church Street, 
and the beautiful one supposed to have been built by Mrs. 
Thomas Smith, granddaughter of Colonel William Rhett, 
No. 64. 

There had been many attempts to build up East Battery, 
but the walls yielded to every gale, and were totally de- 
molished by the hurricane of 1804. It was then determined 
to use stone for the construction, and after many difficulties 
its present limits were attained. 

A wharf or pier which projected from South Bay, with 
a sort of tea-house at the extremity, where people drove 
of a warm afternoon to enjoy the breeze, and Watson's 
Botanic Garden, were the only outdoor places of amuse- 
ment. 

It is customary to speak of the " superstitions of our an- 
cestors," — a phrase which often comes strangely from 
those who eagerly receive every " ism " of the present. It 
must be confessed, however, that whether they were more 
or less superstitious than ourselves, their fancies were sim- 
pler and more candidly expressed. 

Everything was an omen of good or bad luck. You 
took your life in your hand if you went your way when a 
rabbit had crossed your path; but if he came from a grave- 
yard, to keep his left hind foot in your pocket preserved 
you from danger. If the screech owl hooted, death was 
to be expected; soap could only be boiled, or corn planted, 
on a waxing moon. A waning one would thin the first, 
and waste the ears of the second. Calabash (the large 




General William Washington's Hou; 

Side view. 

407 



408- CHARLESTON 

water gourd) seed must be thrown carelessly on the sur- 
face of the ground, to grow where it listed. To sow it in 
prepared soil would bring disaster on your family. 

The beliefs common to most peoples were held with in- 
tensity. He was almost a murderer who should invite his 
guests to sit down thirteen at table. A mirror cracking 
without cause was as terrifying as to the Lady of Shalott. 
A bird flying into a house, or a picture falling from the 
Avail, made many a cheek turn pale; and to start on a jour- 
ney, marry a wife, or christen a child on a Friday would 
have been thought impious. 

There is a certain country road not very far from the 
town. Along one part of it, several miles in length, a 
big black dog bounds at morning and evening twilight. 
He attacks no one, makes no sound, but keeps steadily 
at some distance alongside of the wayfarer, within the 
trees, until its limit is reached, and then vanishes. Men 
have tried to cajole, and to shoot it; but it takes no notice 
of the voice, and powder and ball do not harm it ; it still 
runs steadily on. Why no one ever tried a silver bullet, 
is not explained. 

Ghosts were not to be trifled with; they haunted many 
country and some town houses, and great deference was 
paid to dreams. 

Two of these dreams were so remarkable and so well 
proven that they are worth telling. Both are singularly 
straightforward warnings of trouble to come, not fantas- 
tic imaginations of excited brains. 

A lady of the McPherson family, Mrs. Pringle of " Lau- 
rium," Prince William's parish, dreamed one night that 
her nursery was burning from a beam ignited beneath 
the hearth. She got up instantly and examined, but 
there was not the least sign of anything wrong, either 
then or through the morning. 

In the afternoon, all being well, she went out with her 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 409 

husband to drive. The avenue was a long one, and as they 
turned into it from the high road, she saw a servant gallop- 
ing toward them, who cried out that the house was on 
fire, smoke bursting out, but that they could not find the 
fire. 

"Go back as fast as you can ride," the lady replied, 
" carry plenty of water upstairs, take up the nursery hearth, 
and pour it in; the fire is there." 

The order was obeyed, the smoking beams extinguished, 
and the house, though damaged, was saved. The whole 
neighbourhood knew the facts. 

The other story is still better known. 

Mrs. Thomas Shubrick was the wife of the owner of 
Belvedere, the present home of the Country Club. 

One night she started from troubled sleep, and told her 
husband that she had distinctly seen her brother (who 
was, they knew, on a homeward voyage from Philadelphia), 
floating on the sea, on some small object, with a white 
handkerchief on a stick, for a flag. Her husband suc- 
ceeded in soothing her, and she soon fell asleep again. 
But the dream would not let her rest ; the same vision re- 
turned and again she awoke, — this time much distressed. 

Mr. Shubrick used all the arguments that one does use 
in such cases, and again the obedient wife composed her- 
self to slumber. But when the vision returned for the 
third time, the sister's feelings became uncontrollable. 
She insisted, and her husband agreed that he should at 
once go into town (Belvedere is three miles from the City 
Hall), hire a pilot-boat and send it to cruise to the north- 
ward in the track of incoming vessels. The boat went 
out and found nothing, nor did she on the second day, but 
on the third, just as she was turning to abandon the search, 
a tiny white speck was seen afar off. It proved to be a 
hencoop on which was a half-dead man, the sole survivor 
of the wreck three days before ! 



410 CHARLESTON 

This lady was the mother of four gallant sailors: Cap- 
tain Templer Shubrick, who went down in the Hornet, when 
bringing home the treaty with Algiers, made after the 
conquest of the Barbary pirates; Captain Edward Rut- 
ledge Shubrick, who was so beloved that the officers and 
sailors of his ship, the frigate Columbia, asked the privi- 
lege of erecting his monument in the eastern cemetery of 
St. Philip's; Commodore Irvine, and Admiral William 
Brandford Shubrick, who died not many years since. 

The circumstances of this remarkable story were known 
to the whole town. Hiring a pilot-boat for three days is 
not a thing done in a closet, and u the Shubrick dream" is 
one of the faiths of Charleston. 

The custom of duelling was by this time recognized as 
so great an evil, and yet was so entirely a part of the life 
of the day, that the efforts made through many years to 
check and to regulate it had but small success. The death 
of Alexander Hamilton, in July, 1804, aroused great in- 
terest in the question. Hamilton was at the time of his 
death perhaps the most popular man in America, and was 
reverenced as having been Washington's confidant. He 
was then President-general of the Society of the Cincin- 
nati, and was known to have expressed himself as strongly 
opposed to duelling. 

A month later General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
as the President of the Society, addressed a letter to the 
President of the State Society of New York, in which he 
said : — 

" Is there no way of abolishing throughout the Union 
this absurd and barbarous custom, to the observance of 
which he " (General Hamilton) " fell a victim ? 

"Duelling is no criterion of bravery, for I have seen 
cowards fight duels, and I am convinced real courage may 
often be better shown in the refusal than in the accept- 
ance of a challenge. If the Society of the Cincinnati 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 411 

were to declare their abhorrence of this practice, and the 
determination of all their members to discourage it, as 
far as they had influence, and on no account either to send 
or to accept a challenge, it might tend to annul this odi- 
ous custom, and would be a tribute of respect to the 
sentiments and memory of our late illustrious chief. 

" If the State Society of New York should coincide with 
me in opinion, I should be glad to have their sentiments 
how to carry it into execution; whether by submitting 
it to a meeting of the General Society, at New York, 
Philadelphia or Baltimore, or by referring the matter at 
once to the different State Societies for their consid- 
eration." 

This was followed by an appeal to the clergy and laity 
" of standing " of South Carolina, requesting their in- 
fluence in the same cause, and a memorial was presented 
to the Legislature, asking legislation for the prohibition 
and punishment of duelling. These papers were signed 
by C. C. Pinckney, James Kennedy, and William Read, 
as committee for the Cincinnati, and by David Ramsay, 
Henry W. De Saussure, William Allen Deas, James 
Lowndes, and Richard Furman, as committee of the 
Society of the American Revolution. 

It was of no use. Every one of these gentlemen had 
probably been " out " in his youth (Hamilton had been 
second to John Laurens, and Pinckney to General Howe), 
"and now that they are old," the young men said, "they 
forget the passions of youth and would put bridles upon 
us." So nothing came of these efforts. Public opinion 
was yet too strong, and it was impossible to enforce legal 
penalties. 

John Lyde Wilson, once Governor of the State, pro- 
duced his " Code of Honour," expressly, as he declared, 
with a view of saving life. 

Wilson was not a man of worthy character, and it was 



412 CHARLESTON 

properly objected that to adopt such a Code was to 
acknowledge and legalize an evil which should not be. 
Practically it was of use, for its chief point was to insist 
that there should be no communication between the prin- 
cipals, thus avoiding additional exasperation by letters or 
interviews, and that all difficulties must be referred to 
friends, who were in duty bound to use every exertion to 
prevent a meeting, and to make proper arrangement 
should it take place. A great improvement upon such 
shocking affairs as that in which Mr. Delancey was 
killed at the beginning of the Revolution; or that similar 
one between Lord Byron and Mr. Chaworth which oc- 
curred in London at about the same time. There is no 
trace in Carolina of those absurd and frivolous duels, com- 
mon at one time all over Europe, in which men killed 
each other for a whim, or a trifle. It seems to have been 
always seriously regarded, almost as " trial by combat," 
undertaken as vindication or as retribution. 

One of the most curious affairs of this sort was pro- 
posed by Marion during the Revolution. The story is 
taken from Sabine's " Duels and Duelling." Marion, it is 
said, "received a cartel from Major Mcllraith of the Royal 
Army to meet in combat in the open field." (Appar- 
ently entirely as public foes.) "Marion in reply ex- 
pressed himself willing to meet him, with twenty picked 
men on each side, according to the custom of the days of 
chivalry! Mcllraith assented and agreed upon a spot 
near an oak tree (which was standing in 1821); but after 
the parties had been selected and formed for combat he 
reconsidered the proposals, and withdrew his men without 
firing a gun." 

It is impossible to help wondering what " huge romantic 
tome" Marion had been reading! Froissart at the very 
least must have inspired that mediaeval proposition! 

It should be said that many of these duels were blood- 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 413 

less, for often men who would not refuse a challenge fired 
in the air, and then it was held scandalous in the other 
party to lire again. This had been the case with Henry 
Laurens of the Revolution, who more than once went out, 
received his adversary's fire, and refused to return it, say- 
ing that "a man might have a right to kill him, but could 
have none to make a murderer of him." There were fre- 
quent instances of this, yet valuable lives were sometimes 
lost. 

In the year 182G the Cincinnati made yet another effort. 
General Thomas Pinckney had then succeeded his brother 
as President-general, and Major Garden was at the head 
of the State Society. 

The Societ} r prevailed upon two of its younger members 
to submit to it (sitting as a "Court of Honour") what 
seemed at first an irreconcilable dispute. The story is 
curious in its development. 

The quarrel was between a fiery young sailor and an 
equally high-spirited planter. 

The planter had, it was alleged, called the former a liar 
and a fool! Naturally the sailor had struck him in the 
face first, then knocked him down. At this juncture 
the Society intervened and offered its good offices. The 
sailor's note of reply remains — "For his part he was con- 
tent; it was for the other man to say if he wanted more ; if 

he did, it would afford him, Captain , the greatest 

pleasure to gratify him. He did not see what the Society 
could do." Nevertheless, little by little, after many sit- 
tings, and the examination of many witnesses, it was 
discovered that the landsman had not given the lie, and 
that none had heard him say "fool " — and the seaman was 
prevailed on to admit a misunderstanding, and to say that 
he would not have thrashed the gentleman had he not 
conceived himself insulted, and he was sorry for the 
mistake. They then shook hands and declared themselves 



414 CHARLESTON 

satisfied, and the Court (General Pinckney, Major Garden, 
Captain Baker, Major Hamilton, and Dr. Wm. Read, all 
Revolutionary veterans) rejoiced greatly, and in its report 
expressed the hope " that the present affair may form a 
precedent, which may induce not only its own members 
but the youth of the State generally, to submit their dif- 
ferences to such councils, and thus spare not only life, but 
the dreadful remorse which torments the survivor in such 
a conflict." 

Evidently the hope failed, and duelling, although it 
became gradually less frequent, continued a well-estab- 
lished custom until it fell in 1866, with the civilization of 
which it was a part. The writer can remember but three 
fatal duels in her own recollection. 

The evil was great, but some things can be said in its 
favour. The knowledge that an account would be re- 
quired of his words and actions brought constantly to a 
man's mind, not as a menace but as a principle, the belief 
that his words were a part of his character and his life. 
False or cruel speech was to be answered for, as was an 
evil act; it, therefore, was held to be an act, not mere 
empty breath, as it is too often considered now. " The 
word " had its true value. Other injuries were thus 
punished also. An affront to a man's character or family, 
a wrong or even a discourtesy to a woman or to an 
absent friend, evoked a challenge, but business difficulties 
were not cause of battle. Those were settled by courts 
of law ; the duel guarded personal honour, which the law 
was powerless to defend. One who can remember the 
exquisite urbanity of the social intercourse of fifty years 
ago, and contrast it with the careless expressions, the 
rough give and take, of the present, can but wonder how 
much the old way had to do with the self-respect and 
consideration for others of that society which people now 
call half civilized. 



CHARACTERISTICS. STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY 415 

At its worst — and its worst was very grievous — duel- 
ling was not so bad as those shocking unregulated en- 
counters which occur now when the passions of men are 
beyond control, and which cost more lives than were ever 
sacrificed to the old duello. 



CHAPTER XIX 

WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 

"VI" OT even John Randolph's "deep fosse" of the 
-^ Atlantic Ocean could secure peace and quiet while 
the Emperor Napoleon troubled the world. America 
asked nothing better than to be allowed to cultivate her 
fields, build up her industries, and sail her ships unmo- 
lested. Neither England nor France, now at each other's 
throats, would permit such profitable neutrality ; each 
demanded the friendship or rather the service of America, 
while each intimated that it was hardly worth the asking! 

Napoleon said scornfully of her ensign that it was not 
really a flag but only a "piece of striped bunting" which 
could not defend the ships or goods it carried ; and Eng- 
land, less epigrammatic but more aggressive, confiscated 
her merchantmen and "pressed" her sailors. 

President Jefferson's efforts, in the face of such insults, to 
keep the peace, which he believed to be essential to the "hap- 
piness of his countrymen," were pathetic, but humiliating. 

Neither of the warring nations respected such forbear- 
ance ; each insisted that he who was not for was against her. 

Neither did his successor, Mr. Madison, desire to risk 
the combat, and most especially reluctant to do so was 
the small but still important Federal party. It, looking 
upon Napoleon as a near and visible Apollyon, was willing 
to undergo almost any treatment from England rather than 
weaken her hand against " the Adversary." 

The blunder of the English captain of the Leopard, who 
in time of peace attacked the Chesapeake and carried off 

416 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 417 

her sailors at the very gate of New York, did much to 
precipitate hostilities. 

The Thirteenth Congress met soon after, filled with 
eager, patriotic, high-spirited young men. It was evi- 
dent that the " peace at any price " policy would soon be 
at an end. In that Congress were Clay of Kentucky, 
Quincy of Massachusetts, Randolph of Roanoke, and 
many others whose names were to become famous. 
Eminent among them were Langdon Cheves, William 
Lowndes, and John C. Calhoun 'of South Carolina. 

How these men forced the unwilling executive to throw 
down the glove to England, how the war was fought, are 
matters of general history. 

The enemy, successful at Washington and repulsed at 
Baltimore, made no attack upon Charleston. Thomas 
Pinckney, now an old man, commissioned major-general 
and appointed to command the department of the South, 
prepared as best he might for the defence of the long 
stretch of coast from North Carolina to Florida; but 
there were only two small reconnaissances, easily repulsed. 

The fortifications across Charleston Neck, for which 
the " Patriotic Fair " had with their own hands carried 
sods, were unassailed. 

Pecuniarily the place suffered severely: her commerce 
was destroyed ; there was no importation ; her rice and 
cotton were unsalable. Rich planters needed common 
necessaries of life, or bought them at enormous profits 
from clever merchants who made fortunes by their fore- 
sight in laying in stocks of goods. 

The British fleet patrolled the coast, capturing every 
little vessel that fell in its way. The loss to individuals 
was often heavy. One schooner is mentioned as being 
taken on the passage from the Santee River to Charleston 
(about sixty miles) with between six and seven thousand 
dollars' worth of rice on board, all from one plantation. 
2e 



418 CHARLESTON 

There was a story that some officers had even dared to 
disguise themselves and attend a ball on Sullivan's Island, 
under the very walls of Moultrie. It was well for them 
that they were not discovered, for Colonel William Dray- 
ton, commandant of the fort, was not a man to be trifled 
with, and their shrift would have been short. The stop- 
page of all trade and the high price of commodities told 
hardly on the poor — their want became great. There 
was lack of employment, and it was hard to find work for 
them. 

The Ladies' Benevolent Society, founded in 1813, espe- 
cially for the care of the sick (one of the first societies 
organized in America for that purpose), even went beyond 
its original object in efforts of this sort. It advertised 
for donations of cotton, that poor women might be taught 
to spin, there being always demand for the yarn for weav- 
ing. 

The poor would have been badly off then but for this 
society, which, with judicious wisdom, provided nurses, 
linen, medicine, and food for the afflicted, in ways and 
by rules under which, with modifications, it still works 
to the blessing of the suffering, — ways and rules which 
have within the last few months received the praise of 
the highest modern authority on the subject. 

Miss Nutting, the head of the Training School for 
Nurses of the Johns Hopkins Hospital of Baltimore, wrote 
lately of this society : — 

" I have been struck with the wise spirit in which it 
was founded. The cautious distribution of alms ; the 
effort to study and understand the needs of the sick and 
the helpless, and to give the right kind of relief, are char- 
acteristic of the most modern 4 scientific ' methods. It 
is a little curious to find them suggested anywhere, nearly 
a hundred years ago." 

The good work of this association, especially in and 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 419 

after times of epidemic, soon made it as popular as the 
Library Society or the old South Carolina had been. It 
received legacies and donations, had money in bank, and 
nourished exceedingly up to the time of the war between 
the States. Its invested funds were then chiefly destroyed 
and its means sorely reduced. 

One of its most interesting donations was five hundred 
dollars, given by that sweetest of singers, and of women, 
Jenny Lind, on her visit to Charleston in 1850. 

England and America were both heartily tired of the 
war before peace was announced in January, 1815 ; the 
victory of New Orleans winding it up in a most satis- 
factory manner to the United States. The gain to the 
latter was great. She had established her claim to be 
not merely "a struggling American Republic," but a 
nation which could hold its own by land and sea with 
the greatest of powers. Her flag was respected, her 
rights acknowledged, and all material losses were soon 
forgotten in the prosperity that set in and continued, 
with of course the inevitable fluctuations, down to 1861. 

One effect of the war upon Charleston was the melting 
away of the Federal party. 

The old gentlemen, of course, kept their faith — in peace 
time ; but it is seldom that the call to arms does not pro- 
duce unanimity in South Carolina. The younger men, 
the rising hope of the party, broke away from it under the 
impulse of the war, and the elders soon loyally declared 
for "the country, right or wrong." The address of the 
members of the Cincinnati to General Pinckney upon his 
appointment was warm and pathetic in its offers of service. 

Conspicuous among these younger men were William 
Drayton and Daniel Elliott Huger, both lawyers of high 
standing, who from a sense of duty abandoned their profes- 
sion and their party to accept commissions in the regular 
army. 



420 CHARLESTON 

Mr. Drayton was the son of Judge William Drayton, 
who at the outbreak of the Revolution was chief justice 
of Florida. He had studied law with and been greatly 
under the influence of Mr. Edward Rutledge, from whom 
he had received the strongest Federal principles, and hav- 
ing begun life with nothing, he had now an income of 
118,000 a year from his profession. This he renounced 
for a commission in the regular army, and served until all 
danger of hostilities was past. He then, refusing all offers 
of promotion, resigned his commission, returned to the 
bar, and was afterward member of Congress, and promi- 
nent in various ways. 

Mr. Huger also had belonged to the old party, but 
could not agree with its over-prolonged toleration of in- 
justice. He too resigned and entered the army, for the 
time, then returning to Charleston, where he was to play 
an important part. 

These two gentlemen have been singled out from their 
fellows, because this was their first appearance in the 
public affairs of the place, in which they later took great 
part. 

While the war was still in progress a tragedy, unex- 
plained at the time, startled the town. Theodosia, the 
beautiful daughter of Aaron Burr, was the wife of Gov- 
ernor Joseph Alston, the eldest son of Colonel William 
Alston, already mentioned as having entertained General 
Washington, at his plantation " Clifton " on the Wacca- 
maw. The devoted affection between the father and 
daughter, and her exquisite loveliness and charm, had 
touched many hearts at Burr's trial for high treason in 
1804. The feeling against him after his so-called acquit- 
tal, his expatriation and misery, were great sorrow to her ; 
she returned to Carolina a mourning woman. There she 
was almost idolized by her husband's famity ; and ad- 
mired, not only for grace and accomplishment, but for the 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 421 

impression of purity and elevation of character made upon 
all who knew her. The death of her only child, a hand- 
some and promising boy of fourteen, so preyed upon her 
health as to cause great anxiety. 

Her father had by that time returned to New York, and 
she was persuaded to go on to join him there. She set 
sail from Charleston accordingly, and never was heard 
of more ! 

For a time her friends hoped against hope — there had 
been no storm, and the vessel was a stanch one. Had it 
been taken by an English cruiser news would come sooner 
or later — after a while that hope failed. The distracted 
husband made all possible search. The coasts from Caro- 
lina to New York were carefully examined, but not the 
slightest trace of the vessel could be found. 

It remained for long a mystery of the sea. 

More than thirty years' later an old sailor, dying in a 
village of the North Carolina coast, confessed that he had 
been one of a pirate crew who had captured the ship and 
compelled the passengers to walk the plank ! He pro- 
duced a small picture, which was, he said, the portrait of 
the lady thus murdered. He had himself taken it from 
her cabin. The husband and father were spared the 
ghastly tale, for both were dead before it was told, but 
persons who had known Mrs. Alston thought that they 
recognized the likeness. 

No dying man would willingly accuse himself falsely of 
such a crime. 

In the first quarter of the century many buildings, both 
public and private, were erected; many "greens" built 
over, and low land reclaimed. 

The City Hall, built in 1801 for the State Bank, was 
eighteen years later converted to its present Use, and the 
inside adorned with handsome marble columns brought 
from Italy. The present Charleston Library was the old 



422 CHARLESTON 

South Carolina Bank, and remained so until 1835 ; the 
books to that time being kept in the third story of the 
Court House, to the rebuilding of which it (the Library) 
had subscribed handsomely. 

The architect of the City Hall, the Orphan House 
Chapel, and the Hall of the South Carolina Society on 
Meeting Street, was Gabriel, son of Peter Manigault, so 
long Speaker of the " Commons House of South Carolina. " 
This gentleman, educated in Europe, cultivated archi- 
tecture rather as a pursuit than as a profession. He built 
for his brother the house at the corner of Meeting and 
John streets, and for himself that on Meeting and George. 
On his removal to Philadelphia he seems to have aban- 
doned the occupation. 

The School for Medicine, not called a college for thirty 
years, was begun by the Medical Society in 1822 ; but the 
Citadel was only opened in 1833. 

In 1816 St. Paul's, the third and largest Episcopal 
church, was built in the northwest part of the town, on 
what was then called " the Neck," namely the narrow 
strip of land between creeks and marshes which connected 
the city and the country beyond. Everything above 
Boundary Street (the old lines, now Calhoun Street) was 
then called "the Neck." The tide found its way through 
these many winding creeks up to, or even in some places 
beyond, Rutledge Avenue from the Ashley on the west ; 
and to Meeting Street from the Cooper on the east ; so 
narrow was the land then. St. Paul's was built on a lot 
given by Mrs. Radcliffe, the widow of a rich Scotch mer- 
chant, who owned so much of the adjacent property that 
the neighbourhood is named for her Radcliffeborough. 
It is now one of the most populous parts of the town, but 
the church when it was built stood almost alone. 

The large mills for pounding rice, that is for separating 
the husk from the grain, and the lumber mills, which were 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 423 

the chief mechanical industry of the place, were built upon 
the creeks dammed up to make mill ponds. A small part 
of one may still be seen south of Calhoun Street, which 
formerly extended from Spring to Bull Street, and con- 
siderably east of Rutledge Avenue. It was crossed by a 
bridge called Cannons-bridge, the whole neighbourhood 
being named Cannonsborough. Many of the fine houses 
still to be seen in that part of the city — which has 
suffered less from war, fire, and earthquake than the 
eastern — date from the first half of the last century ; 
the colonial town did not come within squares of them. 

The old White Meeting, which had suffered greatly 
in the Revolution, was replaced in 1806 by a handsome 
building known from its shape as the Circular Church. 
Many years before the Scotch members of the congregation 
had withdrawn from the Meeting and established them- 
selves at the corner of Tradd and Meeting streets, order- 
ing themselves strictly according to the Kirk of Scotland, 
whence their pastors all came. The most remarkable of 
these came in 1793, when the historian of the church says: 
" The congregation had the distinguished felicity to 
obtain the Revd. George Buist of Edinburg as their 
Pastor." This gentleman, said to have been a fine pulpit 
orator, soon became president of the College of Charleston. 
His little church was twice enlarged to accommodate his 
auditors, but unfortunately he died at forty, in the prime 
of his usefulness. The present church was not erected for 
some years, and has been greatly remodelled since the 
earthquake of 1886. 

Meantime the original congregation, notwithstanding 
this severance, had so increased that another " house of 
worship " was built in Archdale Street. There were two 
pastors, who were called " co-pastors," and served indiffer- 
ently in either church. A singular arrangement was that 
the " pastors preached the same sermon in both houses the 



424 CHARLESTON 

same day," and the two congregations were one corporate 
body. 

This arrangement worked well until, in 1817, it was ob- 
served that the sermons of the Reverend Mr. Forster, a 
young clergyman from North Carolina, who had recently 
come to the church, were by no means orthodox, although 
extremely interesting. 

Mr. Forster, on being questioned, frankly avowed that 
by reading and study his views had altered much since he 
first came to the congregation, that he could no longer sub- 
scribe to its Confession of Faith, that in fact he was a Uni- 
tarian. The consternation was extreme; especially when 
it was found that the larger number of his hearers agreed 
with his opinions. Mr. Forster was much liked and every 
effort was made to reclaim him; but he was perfectly hon- 
est and conscientious and stood firm. 

After much deliberation it was decided that the " new 
idea " should be given full possession of the Archdale Street 
building, an equitable division being made of the property, 
debts, etc., of both churches, while the orthodox should 
remain with the Reverend Dr. Palmer. The separation 
was effected. Sixty-nine subscribers remained, seventy- 
five went ; and so was established the Unitarian Church of 
Charleston. 

Not many native Charlestonians joined it, and of those 
some who had acted hastily and without due consideration 
returned to the original fold. Mr. Forster's health failed 
almost immediately, and the congregation had the good 
fortune to secure in his place the Reverend Samuel Gilman 
of Boston, — a young man just ordained. 

Dr. Gilman, and his accomplished wife (Miss Caroline 
Howard of Boston), held for years a prominent part in the 
social as well as in the religious world of the town. 

He was not only a scholar and a thinker but a man of the 
greatest purity and beauty of character, beloved and re- 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 425 

spected by all. Mrs. Gilman's tales, sketches, and poems 
were widely read and admired; and her two stories, "The 
New England Housekeeper " and " The Southern Matron," 
are of much value as delineations of manners and customs 
now almost extinct. 

In 1819 Charleston had the pleasure of receiving another 
President, Mr. Monroe, who came to " inspect the coast de- 
fences and make himself acquainted with the people." 

Mr. Monroe was an extremely popular President, being 
reelected for his second term with but one adverse vote 
(for J. Q. Adams), — a majority which none other but 
Washington has ever received. People admired his con- 
duct in 1812-1814, and his assertion of the rights and 
authority of the United States. He, on his part, was very 
partial to the Carolina statesmen. Mr. Calhoun was his 
Secretary of State, and there was hardly a portfolio, or a 
mission (as embassies were then called), which he had 
not offered to Mr. William Lowndes, who refused them all, 
" believing himself to be of most use to the public in the 
House of Representatives." 

Mr. Calhoun travelled with him now, coming, as Wash- 
ington had done, by the road from Georgetown. The party 
included "Mr. Calhoun's lady and family, Maj. General 
Thos. Pinckney, Mr. Gouverneur, the President's private 
secretary, and Lt. Monroe, his nephew." 

Having spent the night at Colonel Jacob Bond Ton's 
plantation, about ten miles from the town, the party drove 
to Clement's ferry, six miles up the river, near the present 
navy yard, and came thence in a large and handsome barge, 
" rowed by twenty-five members of the Mariners' Society, 
steered by their President, Capt. Thos. Jervey; the style 
very line." 

The entertainments — inspections, reviews, fireworks, 
presentations of addresses, of societies, dinners, balls, etc., 
were much the same as those offered to Washington, with 



426 CHARLESTON 

but two exceptions. On Friday, having visited the lines, 
" he breakfasts at the villa of Joel R. Poinsett, Esqr.," and 
on " Saturday attends a grand concert and ball given in his 
honour by the St. Cecilia Society." He stayed one week 
and went, escorted to the Ashley River Bridge, where, de- 
clining a salute, he took kindly leave of the citizens ; having 
first promised to sit to Mr. Morse for his full-length por- 
trait, to be hung in the Council Chamber. 

This is the only occasion (as far as the writer has been 
able to ascertain) on which a St. Cecilia has ever been given 
to any one man! Its times and seasons are as fixed as if 
ordered by the heavenly bodies. Lent alone disturbs its 
dates! Saturday is unheard of ! That would hardly be a 
real St. Cecilia which did not begin on a Thursday at 9 p.m. 

So much has been said of this social organization that it 
may be as well to give an account of it here. It began (as 
has been said in a former chapter) in the year 1737, with 
a concert given upon " Thursday being St. Cecilia's day," 
being, originally, an amateur concert society. Very soon, 
however, one or two professionals were engaged as leading 
performers. Mr. Quincy, in 1773, mentions that the first 
violin, a Frenchman, received five hundred guineas a year; 
but amateurs continued to play with them. General C. C. 
Pinckney and Mr. Ralph Izard were both said to have been 
performers in their youth; the former playing the violon- 
cello. It was not formally organized until 1762. 

There is no mention of any meetings during the captiv- 
ity of the town from 1781 to 1786. The men were either 
in prison or riding with Marion; but immediately upon 
its repossession the Society met again, and continued to 
do so regularly despite the rivalry of the Philharmonic 
Club. In 1792 the managers wrote to Major Thomas Pinck- 
ney, then Minister to England, to buy and send out for 
it " one grand pianoforte and twenty pounds' worth of the 
best modern concert music." 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 427 

But by 1819, the very year of Mr. Monroe's visit, the 
musical ardour had declined, and the committee was 
obliged to report that they could succeed in getting a quin- 
tette only for the concert, and proposed giving a ball 
instead. Evidently for the reception of the President a 
combination was effected ; but in 1822 the concert was 
finally abandoned and the ball reigned in its stead. 

From that day to this it lias held its joyous sway with 
but little change or variation. 

Only in the sixties, as during the Revolution, all the 
men being in the field, and the city under fire, it was 
necessarily interrupted. 

The singular point of the organization is that with 
but few written rules to guide, it has remained so stead- 
fast in object and spirit. 

The Society elects its members ; names must be offered 
at the annual meeting by a letter presented by a member. 
If a man's father or grandfather, or any of his immediate 
kindred, have belonged before him, there is little doubt 
that he will be chosen. Nevertheless blackballs (two suf- 
fice to exclude) have fallen, when the applicant was a 
notoriously unworthy scion of his family tree. If a new 
resident, or of a family recently brought into notice, there 
will be inquiry, perhaps hesitation, and a good backing 
will be desirable. But if he be of character and standing 
calculated to make his membership acceptable to the 
Society, he will be elected, — unless he has some adver- 
sary ; then he may fail. The presenter of such a one will 
make careful examination into public feeling before sub- 
jecting his friend to mortification; and will withhold the 
letter if in doubt. When a man is elected, the names of 
the ladies of his household are at once put upon " the 
list" and remain there forever. Only death or removal 
from the city erases them, — change of fortune affects 
them not at all. " To be dropped from the St. Cecilia " 



428 CHARLESTON 

is an awful possibility sometimes hinted at, but which 
(as far as known) has never come to pass. 

The members elect the president, vice-president, secre- 
tary and treasurer, and board of managers ; and have 
nothing more to do with the conduct of affairs. They are 
entitled to ask for invitations for visiting strangers. This 
is a right that may be abused ; but members are expected 
not to use it for business purposes, or as a witty woman 
once said, "not to let the St. Cecilia become a trades- 
union." 

The managers control everything; are entirely inde- 
pendent of feminine suggestion or assistance ; get on, it 
must sadly be confessed, wonderfully well without it ; 
and except that they are more liberal in this matter of 
invitations than their wives or sisters would be, are above 
reproach. The managers continue from year to year, va- 
cancies occurring only by death, or rare resignations, — 
the eldest manager becoming vice and president in due 
order. An absolute unanimity is supposed to reign in its 
councils ; the board is understood to be as one ; if there 
be rifts, the outside world knows it not. 

Three balls are given in the season ; the first in Janu- 
ary, the second and third in February, carefully arranged 
to avoid touching upon Lent. Young ladies always 
come with a chaperon, and the greatest decorum prevails. 
The latest bride is, of right, taken down to supper by the 
president, and feels that she has achieved distinction! 

One secret of the success of these balls is that unwritten 
rule, by which every manager holds himself responsible 
for the pleasure and well-being of the guests. Each has 
his own special charge : to some the floor, to others the 
music, the supper, and so on ; but each and all have it on 
their consciences to see that all goes well, — that no guest 
is overlooked, no lady neglected, no stranger unwelcomed. 
Such mistake would be a blot upon the scutcheon, by no 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 



429 



means to be allowed. Before one has time to be annoyed, 
a courteous gentleman — with a white ribbon in his but- 
tonhole — is at hand, with apparently no object upon earth 




Judge Grimke's House 



but to devote himself to the entertainment of one's especial 
self, no matter who one may be. For this end no care or 
trouble is held too great. 



430 CHARLESTON 

At first the concerts were held in East Tradd Street, but 
fashion soon deserted that part of the town. For many 
years before 1860 the balls were given at St. Andrew's 
Hall, a handsome building in Broad Street, next to the 
cathedral, which was burned in the great fire of December, 
1861. 

The Society owned its plate, damask, china, and glass, 
and a good stock of wine. The suppers, elegantly served, 
were waited on by every butler and footman in town who 
could secure a swallow-tailed coat, grinning with delight 
when he recognized his acquaintances, especially his " own 
fambly." 

Mr. Poinsett and his breakfasts were at that time as 
marked a feature of society as the St. Cecilia itself. He 
was of Huguenot descent, the only son of a wealthy physi- 
cian, and therefore able to follow his own fancies. He 
studied medicine, and afterward law. His health failed, 
and he went to Europe in hope of recovering it, but 
always remained a delicate man, who by sheer force of 
intelligence and will did whatever he wished. He said of 
himself many years later, that " despite the doctors, he 
had managed comfortably with only one lung, for over 
sixty years! " 

He travelled over all Europe, was received at many of 
the courts, gained the friendship and confidence of the Czar 
Alexander, and slept in the huts of the wild Khans of the 
Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. The Czar, recognizing his 
gifts, wished him to remain in Russia, but the new conti- 
nent was too interesting to be abandoned. He returned 
home, and was sent on missions to South America, and to 
Mexico, in the most stormy times of their stormy history. 
In Chili he commanded an insurgent army, and rescued 
seven American sailors under sentence of death to the 
Peruvians. In Mexico, it need hardly be said that he 
encountered a revolution. The grand Plaza swarmed with 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 431 

armed men while the citizens fled for their lives. A party, 
including several ladies, rushed into the gates of the 
A*merican embassy, imploring protection. The only weapon 
was the American flag ! Mr. Poinsett threw it across his 
doorway and alone defied the ruffians to enter ; — his house 
was unmolested, the fugitives saved. 

On returning he was elected member of Congress, and 
established himself during the intervals of the sessions in 
a small cottage with a large garden, surrounded by a grove 
of stately live-oaks. One or two of the oaks may still be 
seen on Rutledge Avenue, not far above the present Rad- 
cliffe Street, but the grounds have been divided into town 
lots, and are closely built over. 

Next to adventure he loved conversation and flowers, 
and now that his days of adventure were done, he resolved 
to enjoy the other tastes. 

He had brought plants from Mexico and cultivated 
them here. The splendid Poinsettia, the red and yellow 
Mimosa, called " Goat's-beard," and the so-called " Mexi- 
can Rose," a species of hibiscus which changes from white 
to pink and red in a single day, were all introduced and 
propagated by him. 

Once a week he gave a breakfast, at which were col- 
lected the best and brightest of the town. Beauty or 
charm or intelligence in a woman, agreeability in a man, 
were the things he sought in his guests ; if not possessed, 
a second invitation was never received. Strangers were 
always invited, and treated with the utmost consideration 
and attention. 

A small, plain man, with every disadvantage of face and 
figure, he, like Wilkes, " could soon talk himself above the 
handsomest man in England." His voice was husky 
always, but cultivation and refinement made it attractive, 
and he was the most delightful of hosts and best of racon- 
teurs. A conversation led by him never flagged ; he 



432 CHARLESTON 

could always induce each guest to speak of that of which 
he spoke best, never allowed any one to prose, and when 
he took the parole himself, avoided with wonderful tact 
the part of hero of his own stories. These breakfasts went 
on for years and were, in all pleasantness, lessons in the 
art of conversation. 

Mr. Poinsett married late in life a handsome and 
wealthy widow, Mrs. John Julius Pringle (Miss Izard), a 
daughter-in-law of the attorney-general, — two of whose 
descendants have received his name in baptism. He had 
hitherto taken no active part in the public affairs of the 
city, but was now to become prominent in them. 

Even conservative Charleston was feeling the impulse 
of the mechanical century. Steam was soon to be intro- 
duced into her mills, and steamboats to her waters. 
Morse, who was then known only as an artist, was for 
some time in Charleston, painting many portraits there, 
and it is said that he perfected his great invention, the 
telegraph, in a house in Chalmers Street. Greatest of all, 
a scheme for a railroad to carry freight and passengers 
began to be discussed as early as 1813. The only road 
then running being a small one for carrying coal from the 
pits to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The scheme remained in 
the air, however, until 1827, when a charter was granted 
for this new wonder. It was proposed to build it to con- 
nect the cities of Charleston and Augusta, Georgia, over 
a hundred miles apart — an extraordinary enterprise for 
that time. 

In the meanwhile the turnpikes were so much improved 
that by 1820 travelling was no longer the thing of horror 
that it had been ; stages ran regularly, and with compara- 
tive celerity. Young Dr. Gilman, for instance, when he 
came to preach his test sermons in the Unitarian Church, 
was no more than eleven days and nights from Boston to 
Charleston, whereas it had taken seventeen days to get the 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 433 

news of the battle of Lexington! People went now to 
Virginia and the Northern States habitually, as they had 
formerly gone to Europe — travelling generally in their 
own vehicles, often with four horses. 

Journals of such expeditions remain. 

At the Virginia Springs, the men of the earlier period 
who still survived were to be met. Mr. Jefferson par- 
ticularly was often there. The following letter to his 
old friend, Colonel Alston, shows his kindly, affectionate 
nature : — 

" Monticello, Oct. 6, 1818. 

"Dear Sir: — While I had the pleasure of being with 
you at the Warm Springs, I took the liberty of recom- 
mending to you some wines of France and Italy, with a 
note of their prices and of the channels thro' which they 
may be got ; but instead of calling for them on my recom- 
mendation only, I have thought it better that you should 
have samples to direct your choice, for in nothing have 
the habits of the palate more decisive influence than in our 
relish of wines. I have therefore made up a box of a 
couple of doz. bottles among which you will find samples 
of the wines of White Hermitage, Ledanon, Rousillon (of 
Riveralto), Bergasse, claret, all of France and of Nice, 
and Montepulciano of Italy. I now send them to Rich- 
mond, to the care of Captain Bernard Peyton, commission 
merchant of that place, to be forwarded to you by the first 
vessel to Charleston, some of them I hope will be found to 
your taste. 

" We were much distressed at the springs by the first 
accounts we received of your fall from your horse ; but 
relieved by subsequent assurances that the injury had been 
less serious than at first feared, and that you had been 
able to proceed on your journey. I hope therefore that 
this finds you in health amidst the comforts of your own 

2f 



434 CHARLESTON 

country. I became seriously affected afterwards by the 
continuance of the use of the waters, they produced im- 
posthume, eruption with fever, colliquative sweats and 
extreme debility, these sufferings aggravated by the tor- 
ment of long and rough roads reduced me to the lowest 
stage of exhaustion by the time I got home. I have been 
on the recovery some time, and still am so, but not yet able 
to sit erect for writing — among my first efforts is that of 
recalling myself to your recollection, and of expressing 
the gratification I derived at the springs from your ac- 
quaintance and society. However little of life may remain 
for cherishing a cordiality which it riiust so soon part with, 
it will not be the less felt while feeling remains, and in 
the hope that the tour I recommended of the upper and 
lower valley of the Blue Ridge may give me, the ensuing 
autumn the gratification of receiving you at Monticello, I 
pray you to accept the assurance of my friendly attach- 
ment and high respect, and that I may be permitted to 
place here my respectful compliments for Miss and Mr. 
Alston, who were the companions of your journey. 

"Th. Jefferson." 1 

Colonel Alston was at that time considered the type of 
the home-staying Carolina planter. A very young man 
at the beginning of the Revolution, he had not had the 
English education which so many of his class enjoyed, * 
but was thoroughly Carolinian. 

He had served under Marion and was one of his most 
trusted friends. On the conclusion of the war he devoted 
himself to planting, differing from most of his compatriots 
in that he eschewed politics. Only once did he consent 
to allow himself to be sent as senator to the State Legis- 
lature, a sacrifice to his friendship for Mr. Jefferson, 
whose nomination for President was then in jeopardy. 
1 Unpublished letter in the possession of Charles Alston, Esq., Charleston. 



WAR OF 18 IS. NULLIFICATION 435 

He was twice married ; first to Miss Ashe, secondly to 
Miss Motte, by each of whom he had several children. 
His eldest daughter by the second marriage was the wife 
of the distinguished Robert Y. Hayne, who wrote of 
him : — 

" It is as a Carolina Planter, — a character associated 
with the interests and honour and best hopes of the State, 
— that Col. Alston was chiefly distinguished. Whether 
we estimate his claims to public consideration by his ex- 
traordinary success — the admirable treatment of his slaves, 
or the progressive improvement of his estates, the result 
of a wise system of economy and good management. . . . 

" It is believed that at the time of his death he was, 
with perhaps one exception, the largest slaveholder in 
South Carolina. ... It was the opinion of Col. Al- 
ston that in the management of slaves the true interests 
of the planter were in exact accordance with the dic- 
tates of an enlightened humanity. It was with him a 
rule through life to treat his slaves with the utmost liber- 
ality and kindness, while he never relaxed the reins of a 
wholesome discipline. His rule was to provide them with 
dwellings of the best description, and to allow them sup- 
plies of every kind on the most liberal scale. The conse- 
quence was that his numerous plantations were models of 
neatness and order, and his slaves always presented an 
appearance of health and comfort which spoke well for 
their treatment. They were devotedly attached to their 
master whose service they would not have exchanged for 
any other upon earth. . . . His system was based upon 
a calculation of practical results. It was not the slaves 
only who were to be made prosperous and happy. If they 
were among the best treated in the State, his crops were 
always abundant, and his rice of the finest quality. 



436 



CHARLESTON 



BkafcS* 




The Pringle House 

"Until compelled by increasing infirmities to retire 
from the world, his house was the abode of a refined and 
elegant hospitality. . . . Courteous in his manners, social 
in his disposition, surrounded with a large circle of friends 



WAB OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 437 

and blessed with an ample fortune his tastes and habits 
were for many years those of 'a Carolina gentleman of 
the old school.'" 

Colonel Alston survived to 1839, dying in his eighty- 
third year, a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. 

His house in King Street, through the marriage of his 
youngest daughter to Mr. William Bull Pringle, is now 
known as the Pringle house. 

In 1822 occurred the only really serious threat of servile 
insurrection which had threatened Charleston since that 
incited by the Spaniards at St. Augustine in 1739. 

By this time the disputes consequent upon the admission 
to the Union of the new States of the Louisiana Purchase 
were raging. 

The abolition party was violent. It was proved that 
certain negroes who had gone to the North had there be- 
come so perverted that upon their return to Charleston, 
they proposed a plot of insurrection to their friends. 

They asserted that in this scheme they had the support 
of a large and influential body of sympathizers at Boston 
and elsewhere. 

The negroes — or some of them — lent ear. The plot 
thickened, and the consequences might have been too ter- 
rible for words, had not two faithful servants told their 
masters of the startling tale. These gentlemen at once 
informed the Intendant, Colonel James Hamilton, and the 
Governor, Mr. Bennett. 

Upon examination it was found that the originator of 
the scheme was a free mulatto named Denmark Vesey, 
who had been much in the North in communication with 
the abolition party, and had brought in and disseminated 
their publications. His chief colleague was an African 
called " Gullah Jack, an hereditary conjurer," supposed 
by the negroes to be immortal and able to work miracles 
by magic. These and others were the ringleaders. Their 



438 CHARLESTON 

chief followers were the mechanics, carpenters, blacksmiths, 
carters, mill-hands, wheelwrights, etc. Very few were 
house servants, and it was two of these who had, " for love 
of their masters," told the story. It is impossible to say 
how far the field-hands had entered into the conspiracy; 
but it was known from the Santee to Port Royal. 

Their plan was that at midnight on Sunday, June 12, 
a large body of negroes should cross from the islands to 
the town, and those from the adjacent country march in. 
They were to seize the arms in the armouries, particularly 
those in one known to be carelessly guarded on "the 
Neck." The Intendant and Governor were to be instantly 
killed; the town fired in many places; all white men to be 
massacred, the woman kept; all possible booty to be se- 
cured. There was much talk of St. Domingo, to which 
place they were to go with their plunder. 

On learning this, the authorities immediately took the 
necessary measures. There was horrible anxiety and few 
people slept on the night of the 12th of June; but the 
guard was doubled, the militia was in readiness, the arms 
secured. The negroes, seeing the preparations which it 
was impossible to conceal, kept perfectly quiet. All sus- 
pected were arrested. Vesey showed great courage, and 
could not be brought to confess until confronted with a 
barber from whom he had ordered a wig made of " white 
man's hair " as a disguise. Then he broke down. 

They were all brought to trial, the trials being con- 
ducted with the greatest care by courts of freeholders, 
men of the first character. It was found that many im- 
plicated were too ignorant and stupid to be worthy of pun- 
ishment; they were dismissed. Of the. guilty, twenty-nine 
were transported and thirty-five executed — twenty-two 
at one time in the jail yard in the presence of many spec- 
tators. Never since the days of the pirates had such a 
thing been seen. 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 



439 




Stoll's Alley 



There was not the least attempt at rescue or even any- 
great excitement on the part of the crowd; but the im- 



440 CBABLESTON 

pression left on many minds was most painful. Hence- 
forth their compatriots might be their foes. 

In consequence of the conspiracy the laws for the con- 
trol and regulation of the negroes were made more strin- 
gent. Meetings at night were forbidden; the city guard 
was doubled; police rules were enforced, which from lapse 
of time and fancied security had become lax; and free 
negroes who had gone to the North were forbidden to 
return. Those employed on coasting vessels or steam- 
boats were not allowed to land. In view of Vesey's per- 
formances it was necessary, but extremely troublesome to 
persons travelling with their servants. The interstate 
question of the boat-hands threatened to provoke the 
interference of the general government, in allusion to 
which Colonel Robert Y. Hayne, then representative in 
Congress, wrote to C. C. Pinckney, Jr. (youngest son of 
General Thomas Pinckney) in 1824, recommending 
patience and moderation. He adds: — 

" South Carolina has a character to sustain, and her own 
dignity requires that no intemperate expression, no threat 
of forcible resistance to the national government should ever 
be resorted to. Let us not contemplate or speak of such 
an event otherwise than in terms of unmingled horror." 

This is one of the first notes of danger coming from 
the South. 

On the other hand much was now being done for the 
religious education of the negro. In 1828, Colonel 
Hayne's correspondent, Mr. C. C. Pinckney, a man of 
deep religious feeling, called the attention of a number of 
gentlemen of the Agricultural Society, and others, to the 
fact that the number of the negroes was now so great as 
to be beyond the power of private religious teaching. 
The ladies, who laboured then as always, might catechize 
their house servants, but could do nothing with the many 
hundreds of field-hands. 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 441 

In this emergency he asked the help of the churches, 
particularly of the Methodist. The Life of Bishop 
Capers, of the M. E. Church, by Bishop Wightman, 
contains the following passage : — 

" In 1829 two missions for plantation slaves were es- 
tablished on the Ashley and the Santee rivers. In the 
preceding year he" (Bishop Capers) "was waited on by the 
Hon. C. C. Pinckney, to ascertain if a Methodist exhorter 
could be obtained to oversee his plantation. . . . The 
Bishop made application to the Missionary Board at the 
next conference, for a Missionary whose time and efforts 
should be exclusively directed to the religious instruc- 
tion and spiritual welfare of the coloured people. 

" Soon after Colonel Lewis Morris and Mr. Charles 
Baring united in a similar request on Pon Pon. These 
gentlemen took the initiative in a course of missionary 
operations which may justly be termed the 4 Glory of 
Southern Christianity.' They were all members of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church, but availed themselves of 
the peculiar itinerant organization which the Methodist 
Church afforded." 

The gentlemen certainly showed great good sense and 
knowledge of the race which they desired to benefit. 
The Methodists worked with admirable zeal ; their 
" riders "went from place to place preaching, praying, and 
singing, in plain, simple language, but fervent tones, 
appealing to the imaginative and emotional blacks. 

Some planters at first objected, fearing disturbance, 
but all objections soon gave way, and the exhorters and 
class leaders were eagerly welcomed. The other churches 
did their share. The son of Mr. Pinckney, the late Rev. 
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, says in his Life of his 
grandfather : — 

"Within a few years" of the correspondence with 
Bishop Capers " fifty chapels were built by the planters 



442 CHABLESTON 

along the sea-board for the religious instruction of their 
slaves ; and fifty thousand negroes were members of Chris- 
tian churches in South Carolina. ... At the beginning 
of the war" (1861) "the Protestant Episcopal coloured 
communicants alone were two thousand nine hundred and 
sixty." 

Bishop Capers, often called the evangelist of the ne- 
groes, was the father of the present beloved Bishop of 
the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. 

In 1825 Charleston, in common with the whole country, 
went perfectly wild over the coming of La Fayette. 

Republics are said to be ungrateful. No such reproach 
can be made to America in regard to the " Friend of the 
Nation." No conqueror ever received a more enthusiastic, 
no benefactor a more heartfelt welcome, than was given 
to the old soldier who came to gather the laurels won 
nearly fifty years before. Congress gave him a princely 
gift, $200,000 and a township of land ; but the people 
gave him the adoration of their hearts, an honour and rev- 
erence shared by Washington alone, and La Fayette Avas a 
man to appreciate it. 

He was said to have been deeply moved as he ap- 
proached Charleston. He had come to it first as a young, 
unknown adventurer, and had been received with kind- 
ness and confidence. Now his name was on every lip, 
his praise in every voice. 

He came from Camden and Columbia ; at the former 
he had laid the corner-stone of a monument to his friend, 
the Baron de Kalb, who had been his companion in that 
first adventurous voyage. De Kalb had fallen at the 
battle of Camden. "He could have done more than I," 
La Fayette said, u but Fate took the better man." From 
fervent rejoicings at Columbia he came to Charleston 
along the old Indian trail, then the State Road. He was 
escorted by a troop of handsomely uniformed young men 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 443 

from the middle country, all riding fine white horses, well 
caparisoned — very unlike the " ragged Continentals " of 
his youth. The Governor of the State (Governor Man- 
ning) sat beside him, and opposite were his own son, 
George Washington La Fa^yette, and the son of his first 
American friend, Major Benjamin Huger, the man who 
had risked his life to save him from the dungeon of 
Olmutz. Upon this gentleman, Colonel Francis Kinloch 
Huger, La Fayette, in the most earnest but delicate man- 
ner, pressed a part of the gift which Congress had just 
given him. " You shared my prison," he said, " now 
share my wealth. I cannot be rich while you are poor." 
Colonel Huger, with great feeling, declined. " He had 
enough for his daughters," he said, "and he had taught 
his sons to provide for themselves." 

Six miles from the town a troop of cavalry and at the 
lines an infantry escort were ready with an open carriage, 
drawn by General McPherson's four splendid gray horses. 
That he might hear his own tongue, the orders for both 
companies, the Washington Light Infantry and the Fusi- 
liers Francaise, were given by the captain of the former in 
French ! 

Meeting Street was lined by soldiers presenting arms, 
by the Societies of the Cincinnati and the survivors of the 
Revolution and others in rank, by the clergy, the school 
children, etc., all in order, by citizens in carriages, on 
horseback, and on foot. It was no easy matter for some of 
the elders who had been slender youths in 1776 to get 
into their old uniforms now ; and many a sword-belt 
which had seen good service in its day was punched with 
new holes, before buckle and tongue could meet. 

As he passed, all cheered and wheeled into line. No 
such procession had ever been seen ; in it was every man 
in town and hundreds who had come from the country. 
Windows and doors were thronged with ladies who waved 
their scarfs and threw flowers in his way. 



444 CHARLESTON 

At the corner of George Street the schoolboys, ranged 
in order, shouted with glee when they saw the Marquis 
stop his carriage and alight precipitately. The car- 
riage containing the Generals Pinckney, which had just 
fallen into line behind, stopped also ; and La Fayette, in 
true French fashion, threw his arms round first one and 
then the other veteran, kissing each tenderly on both 
cheeks. 

They had been comrades in war and friends in peace, 
and both brothers had been too much in France to feel 
embarrassed ; but the boys were convulsed with laughter. 

He rode along through the burning sunshine with his 
hat in his hand, unflinching ; but the old campaigner knew 
his trade, and a damp handkerchief was safely tucked into 
the crown of his curled peruke. 

At the City Hall the Intendant, Judge Prioleau, wel- 
comed him, and he stood on the high steps facing the 
crowd. Only when Washington stood on the steps of the 
Exchange, and never again, has one figure so entirely 
filled the thoughts of the people. 

If Washington had symbolized to them Strength and 
Virtue, so La Fayette personified chivalric Generosity, 
Honour, and Romance. 

That was the romantic age ; the Charlestonians of 1825 
had fed upon the pages of Scott. Courage, daring, self- 
devotion, love of the good and the true, such as Sir Walter 
ever taught — were they not embodied in the man before 
them ? 

Never had hero-worship a better excuse, never was it 
more freely offered. 

Enthusiasm was sustained by the hero's own evident 
pleasure in the homage he received, and by the simplicity 
and warmth with which he expressed his thanks. In 
every speech (and there were many) there was always 
some allusion to an event or a friend connected with 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 445 

the subject of the moment all made with the grace of 
the French gentilhomme. 

There were endless entertainments of the usual sort — 
unusually elaborate, perhaps. One new feature was the 
presence of the first Roman Catholic bishop of Charleston, 
Bishop England, who came at the head of the "Faculty 
and Students of the Philosophical and Classical Semi- 
nary." 

La Fayette presented a standard to the Seventh (militia) 
Regiment, and paid many private visits — to Mrs. Shaw, 
the daughter of General Greene ; to the widow of General 
William Washington ; to Mrs. Horry, whose son had 
married his niece ; to the daughters of General Pinckney, 
etc. It need hardly be said that wherever he went he 
charmed his hostesses by his gracious bonhommie. 

The grand event of the visit for the public at large was 
a ball given at the theatre. The theatre then was a large 
and handsome building, at the corner of Broad and New 
streets. The pit was floored over and the tiers of boxes ar- 
ranged for spectators. Of the decorations of the interior 
it would take too long to tell, they fill a column of the 
G-azette. There was a huge eagle (painted on the ceiling) 
and portraits of distinguished men, arms of states and 
cities, inscriptions, sentiments, and mottoes galore. Of 
the ball itself there remains an account written by a 
young man but lately come to Charleston, but who was 
to become one of her leading citizens, the late H. W. 
Conner, Esq. 

His description of the scene and of the ladies is amus- 
ing, — where eighteen hundred are gathered together, there 
must be eccentricities, — but the most valuable part is the 
simple outpouring of the thoughts inspired by the occasion. 
He speaks the mind of the community. 

The letter is to his mother and sister, and begins with 
apologies for not describing the entire visit and for refer- 



446 CHARLESTON 

ring them to a paper for the account of everything except 
the Ball, and for the decorations of that. 

" From even that description you can form nothing like 
an adequate idea of the beauty, taste or elegance of the 
room. The room was 180 to 200 feet long, and on it ranged 
round on seats rising gradually one above the other, were 
1800 ladies as richly and tastefully dressed as the fancy or 
purse of each one would allow. Many of the dresses were 
most brilliant as well as costly ; steel seemed to triumph 
over gold, and silver was quite in the background. Some 
of the trappings of our Nabobs' daughters must have cost 
two to three thousand dollars, or perhaps more. The 
dresses were all white, and in some cases a thin netting of 
steel or gold or silver gauze was worn over a white muslin 
dress. The trimmings were either white, pink or blue. 
Most of them wore something like spencers that fit close to 
the body of pink or white and all wore rich head-dresses with 
a profusion of diamonds and jewels of all grades from the 
common paste up to the diamond of the first water. Some 
of the finest wore large gold (virgin pure) spriggs or 
branches, completely encircling the forehead, and all with 
a rare exception (where the neck was too black or too 
bony, or the arm knocked-kneed) were bare necked and 
bare armed or what was very nearly equivalent to it — a 
long white glove was worn wrinkled up into a purse about 
the wrist with a little La Fayette stamped on the hand of 
it, counter checked by one on the band round the waist. 
What with the beauty of the dresses, (I could not tell 
which to admire the most) the sight was a terribly grand 
and beautiful one. I say terrible because as is wont to be 
the custom here all the artillery of charms and jewels, black 
eyes, etc., were brought there by their respective owners 
with the full design of Conquest, and I dare say many a 
brave heart was laid low upon that memorable occasion. 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 447 

. . . The General was by arrangement to enter the Ball 
room at eight o'clock, and his approach announced by 
the sound of a bugle. When the sound did come, at a 
quarter after eight, a scene not to be described ensued. 
The ladies became frantic — with curiosity, I suppose — 
one hollered, another clapped her hands, a third jumped 
and skipped, (she was a little French Mademoiselle) and 
they all rose up by one impulse. The Manager motioned, 
because if he had spoken no one would have heard him, — 
he motioned to them to sit down ; he might as well have 
said to the sea 'cease to rage.' No one saw him, no one 
heard him, and if they had either seen or heard him, not a 
mother's daughter of them would have minded him. The 
men were stationed behind the boxes. Soon after his ap- 
proach was announced by the sound of the bugle, a most 
elegant band struck up the air of c Hail to the Chief, who 
in triumph advances.' He was ushered in by several ven- 
erable relics of the Revolution supporting him on each side. 
The moment the eye caught a first glimpse there was one 
universal and continuous burst of applause. It was a 
motive as pure and holy as love and gratitude could make 
it that produced it. Here was a man by nature noble, 
brave, generous, with a form and a face that a soldier 
would like to look upon, that a philanthropist would dwell 
upon with rapture, — for his features beam with humanity 
and gentleness, and upon which the old man and the young 
could look with admiration and enthusiasm. This man 
in the pride of his youth when difficulties and dangers 
thickened around our infancy, and when an overwhelming 
power was ready to crush us without, and faction ready to 
consume us within, this man stood forth the champion of 
our desperate Cause, — was associated with that great 
apostle of American liberty, our Guardian Angel, Geni. 
Washington with whom we now identify him — fought 
and bled not only with him, but with our fathers. Shared 



448 CHARLESTON 

the toils of war until peace successfully obtained by the 
valour and wisdom of our illustrious chief, gave us a rank 
new placed among the first Nations of the Earth. Here 
forty years afterwards when the heroes of that day sleep 
with their fathers, this same Hero after experiencing all 
the vicissitudes of fortune, but still retaining all the purity 
of virtue suddenly appears amongst us. He rises as it 
were from the dead, and the first impulse that his appear- 
ance creates is 'Behold the friend of Washington! Our 
noble advocate and defender, let us honour him. Welcome, 
La Fayette.' These were my sensations, and I am sure 
they were general. He was first led round the room, bow- 
ing most courteously to every lady he passed, and receiving 
every demonstration of respect that it was possible to show 
him. In going around the second time the ladies could 
not restrain themselves any longer. They seized the old 
man's hand involuntarily. It was tendered freely to every 
one, and every one grasped in rapture. ... I could but 
exclaim to myself, — was virtue ever more nobly rewarded, 
— was ever gratitude more fervently expressed, — was 
there ever a man so purely and so perfectly happy ? My 
imagination could not suggest to me the possibility of a 
man being more supremely blessed than the Marquis La 
Fayette. 

"After passing round the room in this way, he was con- 
ducted to a kind of Throne prepared for him (see the 
papers). He met Mrs. Shaw (Genl. Greene's daugh- 
ter), Mrs. Washington (Col. Washington's lady), the 
Miss Pinckneys, etc. 

"During the time he remained, say from half after eight 
to ten, there was a general rush to see him, to hear him 
talk, and shake his hand. Every one by him was received 
with all the warmth of French manners, and as far as 
looks and actions could speak he seemed to say, ( Heaven 
bless the people, — I love you all.' 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 449 

" The Ball, like all public balls, was a scene of splendid 
confusion. Forty sets of quadrilles were all going at 
once. The Marquis is in his form tall and stately, per- 
haps an inch higher than myself, though not quite so 
heavy. He is lame a little in one foot, and a good deal 
infirm from age, though his appearance from the colour 
of his wig and the brilliancy of his eye is altogether 
youthful. His features are long and somewhat narrow 
with a retreating but unusually high forehead. His 
features, take them together are more expressive of good- 
ness than anything else. His eye is the only remarkably 
fine feature he has. That is a fine large dark eye, exceed- 
ingly quick in its transition from one object to another, 
and bespeaks great equanimity as well as magnanimity of 
disposition, tho' it has nothing of that determined and 
energetic quality, which fits a man for extreme emergency. 
I think the man's countenance expresses his character as 
intelligently as language itself could make it." * 

We smile at such enthusiasm, but at least these good 
ladies deserved Carlyle's encomium, — they were heroic 
enough to know a hero when they saw him. 

At the end of the week the general left for Savannah, 
stopping en route at Edisto Island, to pay a visit to Mr. 
William Seabrook, perhaps the largest planter of Sea 
Island long-staple cotton of his day ; a visit that influ- 
enced the fate of two persons yet unborn. For when a 
child came soon after to the hospitable hosts, they named 
it, girl though it was, for their distinguished guest, " La 
Fayette Seabrook." When years after the Conte Ferdi- 
nand de Lasteyrie travelled in America, he came with 
letters from the General to the Seabrook family, and the 
fair La Fayette became Mine, de Lasteyrie ! so preor- 
dained, we may fancy, by her name. 

1 From unpublished letter in possession of Miss Conner, Charleston. 
2g 



450 CHABLESTON 

This was the last time that the two Pinckneys ever 
appeared in public. General Charles Cotes worth died 
in the same year, aged eighty-one. General Thomas sur- 
vived scarcely three years, dying at seventy-eight. 

Their deaths, it was said, marked the end of an era. 
They were the last conspicuous examples of the old regime 
to survive in Charleston. They were buried with all pos- 
sible civil and military honours, the one in St. Michael's, 
the other in St. Philip's churchyard. 

No political event, not the Revolution itself, ever 
(before 1860) produced in Charleston the excitement that 
was caused by the Nullification movement of 1832-1833. 
It may not be generally remembered that in 1832 the 
tariff on all coarse woollen and cotton goods ; on iron, salt, 
and other commodities, all essential to the South for the 
use of her negroes, was trebled — raised from 25 to 75 
per cent. The duties on articles of luxury, such as tea, 
coffee, silk, etc., — not produced in New England, was 
reduced. The motive was plain, the manufacturing in- 
terest was governing the country. The South, which had 
cheerfully agreed to a moderate duty for the protection 
of infant industries, proposed in 1816 by her own states- 
men, Lowndes and Calhoun, resented the increase. 

The Legislature of South Carolina protested and peti- 
tioned all to no avail. It then appointed a committee to 
consider the remedy for these evils. The committee 
replied that it considered " Nullification " the remedy 
and recommended that a convention of the people should 
be called to apply it. By nullification is meant (I ob- 
serve for the benefit of non-political readers), not the 
right of secession which had been so forcibly stated by 
Massachusetts in 1812, but the right of a State, peaceably 
and within the Union, to annul any act of Congress, which 
her own courts should pronounce unconstitutional. 

This right had been asserted in the famous " Kentucky 
Resolutions " of 1787. 



WAE OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 451 

Hitberto the people of the State had been unanimous ; 
all detested the tariff, all called it a grievous wrong. 
"England had done nothing equal to this! " But when 
it came to pitting one small State against all others, 
men paused. 

They split into parties. None would be anything but 
a State Rights man, but they bore their names with a 
difference. Colonel Robert Y. Hayne (then Governor), 
General James Hamilton, Mr. McDuffie, Mr. Turnbull 
(known as " Brutus "), Colonel Preston, and their friends, 
were " Free Trade and State Rights." But their ordinary 
appellation was " Nullifyers," and their enemies added 
" Fire-eaters." Their great leader was Mr. Calhoun, but he, 
though the apostle of their creed, in practice advocated 
patience and self-control. 

The other party, Colonel William Drayton, Mr. Poin- 
sett, Judge Huger, Mr. Henry Middleton, Mr. James R. 
Pringle, Mr. Petigru, etc., were "Union State Rights" or 
" Unionists " — also taunted as " Submissionists." 

Disraeli, who knew politics, said that the first essential 
for a good campaign was a good "cry." Each of these 
parties was well provided. 

Nothing could exceed the warmth of feeling and the 
painful division of friends and families. Households even 
were divided against themselves; the closest bonds were 
snapped. There were speeches, processions, pamphlets. 
The Nullifyers were sarcastic at the expense of men who, 
having vehemently declaimed against the tariff, were now 
for "basely submitting." The Unionists were equally 
scornful when they asked if the veriest Fire-eater really 
supposed that Government would allow itself to be defied 
by one small State. " We can die for our rights," cried 
the Nullifyer. " You will die and not get your rights," 
said the Unionist. Such remarks were not pleasant at 
the dinner or tea table, — and vet social life went on. 



452 CHARLESTON 

The Legislature summoned a convention and the con- 
vention met. It was known that the great majority were 
Nullifyers, and many must have felt as did the young lady, 
Mrs. X, to whose husband — a naval officer then at 
sea — the following letter is addressed: — 

" The Convention has met and began its sitting yester- 
day, it is said will continue for a fortnight, though why 
that should be, when all its members are of one opinion 
and have only to pass their vote, I cannot conceive. 

"My two uncles and Mr. Turnbull (Brutus) have gone. 
By way of giving ardour to their deliberations, your 
friend S. has a place, and to give the sanction and respec- 
tability of age old Capt. Richard Bohun Baker, and Ma- 
jor Hamilton " (two of the last remaining veterans of the 
Revolution) " have been dragged from their firesides to 
partake of the uncomfortable honour. ... I suppose 
that the debates will be published and although a hater of 
politics, I shall read them, for I think we are about to try 
a noble but hazardous experiment, and though I advocate 
the measure, I tremble at its approach." 

This lady was a mild Nullifyer; her own family being 
extreme ones, — her husband's strong Unionists. 

At the same time the sister of the young officer writes 
in great provocation. The two letters are given to show 
the wide divergence of opinion in one family. 

" No one can be more anxious to see the nullifying law 
passed than I am, though well convinced that it must end 
in defeat and danger, I wish to see the end of it, and 
what measures Congress will pursue. As to taking off the 
tariff in consequence of our nullifying, there is not a Nul- 
lifyer fool enough to affirm much less to believe it. . . . 
I must tell you of a trick of a brickbat that will amuse 
you. The two parties met the other night after a supper ; 
the Nullifyers began to throw stones " (the wife says " The 
Union men became violent, but Col. Drayton restrained 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 453 

them."), " — one of them hit Mr. Petigru on the shoulder 
and rebounding flew into B. B.'s face, giving him a terrible 
blow on the cheek. A. M. tells the story very patheti- 
cally, but it was impossible not to laugh. Had the blow 
been aimed at him we should have been sorry, but its com- 
ing back at him from Mr. Petigru made it delightful ! 
There was wit in that brickbat. . . . You are sailing 
away from the United States, that you may return safe 
and well to the United States is my earnest hope and 
prayer." 

The ladies were as enthusiastic and as well informed 
as the men. One of the best explanations of the doctrine 
of State Rights is " The Quintessence of Long Speeches 
or a Catechism of State Rights," by Miss Maria H. Pinck- 
ney, eldest daughter of General C. C. Pinckney. 

Neither party had long to wait. In one week the con- 
vention passed the ordinance nullifying the act increasing 
the tariff, and ordered that no duties should be paid after 
the 1st of February, 1833, — little more than six weeks 
off. 

The Nullify ers were delighted. Mrs. X wrote, "A. M. 
is in a perfect ecstasy. Says successful or not it will form 
a noble page in history. As for the other party they are 
Su b missio nists." 

The " Submissionist " theory did not last long. The 
President then was General Jackson, a South Carolinian 
by birth, a Democrat in politics, but a soldier above all 
things, and as prone to use the strong hand as any man 
alive. Almost by return of mail came his proclamation : 
" If the duties were not paid, the State should be reduced 
by force." The Governor, Robert Y. Hayne, a man of 
the finest character and intellect, with a singular power 
of influencing men, replied in another proclamation, main- 
taining the rights of the people and their determination 
to defend them. To count the cost has never been a 



454 CHARLESTON 

characteristic of Carolinians. The threat greatly in- 
creased the number and the ardour of the Nullifyers. 
Offers of service poured in upon the Governor. Men 
armed and drilled, subscribed money, and raised com- 
panies. The State spent a large sum for arms. General 
Jackson, advised by Mr. Poinsett, who remembered re- 
volts in South America, sent troops commanded by General 
Scott, and a fleet under Commodore Elliott. Nothing 
can be more curious than Jackson's letters to his intimate 
friend, Mr. Poinsett, published in the Life of the latter. 
Beginning with kind expressions of " my native State," 
" our State," he lashes himself into fury before he gets to 
the end. What the State owed to Judge Huger and 
Colonel Drayton can hardly be overestimated. They, 
knowing well their own people, persuaded Jackson to 
hold his hand and strike no blow until some " overt act " 
was committed. It is curious that in spite of the wild 
excitement of both men and women there was no overt 
act. The people were ripe for war, and the President 
equally so. He swore that " he would make blue cock- 
ades as scarce as blue roses in South Carolina." The 
leaders on each side held them back, for the leaders of the 
Nullifyers did not desire disunion. 

Mrs. X writes on the 30th of January : " In spite of 
all these signs of warfare I cannot yet imagine the possi- 
bility of such a thing. War if it does come will be a 
terrible calamity, but with all its horrors I do not dread 
it as much as I do the dissolution of our glorious Union. 
I am sorry to say that is sometimes spoken of seriously 
and coolly, and as matter rather for rejoicing than grief by 
many persons, and I fear very much that even if the ob- 
noxious laws should be repealed, and the Constitution 
restored to its former purity, the two sections of the 
country will never return to their former harmony. End 
how it may, we shall be no longer brothers, but rivals." 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 455 

So the troops and the navy were treated with the 
utmost politeness, and the commodore in particular, a 
kindly old gentleman, became a great favourite with the 
ladies. 

Both sides waited breathlessly for the other to act, both 
waited for February, when the refusal to pay the duties 
should be made. 

Most happily Mr. Clay stepped in with his compromise 
bill for reducing the tariff gradually for nine years, the 
reduction to begin at once. Mr. Calhoun and the con- 
gressional delegation instantly supported the bill, and the 
situation was saved. The convention again summoned, 
after listening to the eloquence of Benjamin Watkins 
Leigh, sent from Virginia to counsel conciliatory measures, 
passed another ordinance annulling the first, and the 
cloud cleared away. All were satisfied except the ex- 
tremists on both sides, who would have been glad had 
things been pushed to the worst. 

Both sides claimed the victory: the one party because 
the duties were paid, the other because the tariff was re- 
duced, and the pride of both was satisfied. 

The same lady wrote again (her letters are given as 
showing the popular ideas of the State Rights party) : — 

" We Carolinians are a lucky people, we have had the 
satisfaction of taking the lead in a most honourable re- 
sistance, and of displaying great courage in a threatened 
danger; and now we have the still greater of seeing that 
danger quietly disappear. . . . Mr. Clay's bill which 
has passed in the Senate pacifies our constitutional 
scruples, though not our just demands." 

It is odd, but it is human nature after all, to find people 
amusing themselves under such circumstances, but they 
certainly did. 

"There has been much gayety. A masquerade, the St. 
Cecilia's, the Race Ball, but not many private parties. 



456 CHARLESTON 

A subscription ball given under the especial patronage of 
the Count de Choiseul for poor old M. Fayolle, who has 
lost his all in a shipwreck." A ball was a very appro- 
priate method of assisting M. Fayolle, for he was the old 
St. Domingan master, who had taught half Charleston to 
dance. The Count de Choiseul, then and for many years 
French consul at Charleston, was a most interesting 
person. A nobleman of the old regime, he had absolutely 
refused submission to the new order; had defended Malta 
under the drapeau blanc until he could hold out no longer. 
And had then taken refuge in England, where he married. 
The influence of friends at home procured him the posi- 
tion of consul at Charleston, where he was an important 
figure for more than thirty years. 

His eldest son fell fighting gallantly as captain of the 
Louisiana Zouaves in the war between the States. His 
second has now succeeded to the title of Marquis de 
Choiseul, in France. 

Before the fleet sailed, however, one private ball was 
given in its honour. The mother-in-law of Mrs. X wrote 
to her son, telling him how many of his naval friends and 
particularly his old commander, Commodore Elliott, had 
" asked after you and sung your praises." She therefore 
determined to show them some attention. This was in 
March, when things had quieted down. 

She writes with satisfaction : — 

" So I sent out invitations" (for a ball), "and got a list 
from Duncan Ingraham, who said I should invite all the 
wardroom. I did so, and many came, and as I was the 
mother of a naval officer all came in full uniform, which 
they have not appeared in elsewhere, as they said party 
spirit ran so high. However, I asked them as friends of 
my son, and it was my business, and there were State 
Rights and Union people, and it all went off very well." 

Grief unites people more than joy, and when a great 



WAR OF 1812. NULLIFICATION 457 

man dies, all is forgotten except his great qualities. No 
one in Charleston stood higher or was more admired than 
Robert J. Turnbull. He was a political writer of much 
power. His pamphlets, signed " Brutus," are still prized. 
When he died in April in the strength of his manhood, it 
was a shock to all. 

Colonel William Drayton and himself had been for 
years as brothers, Mrs. Turnbull having been a mother to 
the former when his own parent had died leaving him 
an infant in Florida. Now politics had severed them. 
Mrs. X writes : — 

" Mr. TurnbuH's funeral was immense, guns were fired 
in his honour, his party met and determined to wear 
mourning for him, and to appoint some fit person to pro- 
nounce his eulogy. In the meantime many unfit persons 
have volunteered to be his eulogists, and the papers have 
been filled with pieces in his praise. Most of his oppo- 
nents forgot their party animosity at his death, and 
joined with his friends in following him to the grave. 
Colonel Drayton looked very sad, and my uncle shed 
tears. They were both formerly his intimate friends." 

So passions calmed down, the people grew together 
again, and the storm was averted for thirty years. 



CHAPTER XX 

SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 

IN the light of after events it is hard to believe how 
calm and confident those thirty years were. The great 
questions of the day were vehemently discussed in Con- 
gress and in the State legislatures, but the people at large 
never dreamed of the disruption of the Union, still less 
of the possibility of war. Many of the Union men had, 
after the nullification compromise, been sent to Congress 
or appointed to office at home, and the result was harmony. 
The State had to lament the loss of Colonel William Dray- 
ton. He thought himself coldly looked upon by his town- 
folk, and sensitive and high-spirited, willingly accepted the 
presidency of the moribund United States Bank, and 
removed to Philadelphia. He is the father of the present 
Drayton family of that city. 

At home the chief interest was in the new things 
which were changing the ways of the world. " The steam 
packet about which we are all agape, which now (1833) 
runs regularly from this place to New York," and the 
railroad, which three years before had actually readied 
the Savannah River at Augusta, one hundred and thirty- 
six miles away ! When the engine, the " Best Friend," the 
first locomotive used in America, was put upon the track, 
and drew a car which could carry twenty-five passengers 
at the " daring and dangerous pace of twelve miles an 
hour," and was even trusted to transport the mail, the 
world stood amazed! 

By the late thirties travelling became, as the railroad 

458 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 459 

system extended, comparatively easy, and some families 
went regularly to Newport or Saratoga for the summer. 
In the winter visitors from Boston, New York, etc., often 
coming in search of health, were frequent. To make 
these journeys one left Charleston by a steamboat for Wil- 
mington, North Carolina. Then bits of railroad with con- 
necting links of stages, thumped and bumped along through 
North Carolina and Virginia. Passengers for the North 
generally went by Norfolk and the bay boats to Baltimore. 
The bay boat was a haven of rest to the weary body which 
had endured those stages and those pristine cars, — worse 
than second or third class now! Their suppers, too, were 
famous, while the eating-houses along the track were of a 
badness unspeakable. Passengers for Richmond or Wash- 
ington knew no such solace ; — until they reached a small 
boat on Acquia Creek their discomfort remained, but the 
shortness of time silenced all complaints. 

There was then nothing that could properly be called a 
hotel. There were taverns, inns, and boarding-houses. 
The tavern was the lowest of these places of entertainment; 
inns were " vastly more genteel," to use that obsolete form 
of commendation. In Charleston these were often kept 
somewhat as English lodgings are now. 

The owners lived in the background; cooked, and took 
the orders of the guests as to what they would be pleased 
to have for dinner, if they occupied private rooms, or served 
them themselves if they preferred the table d'hote. Two of 
these houses were admirably kept by free coloured people, 
who were quite characters. The first, Jones's, is described 
by the traveller Hamilton (already quoted) as being the 
best inn of the place, kept by " Jones, a negro, with silver 
forks, clean tablecloths and all the luxuries of the table; 
. . . iced claret to convert Diogenes into a gourmet." 
"Charleston realizes the English idea of a city." A 
valuable manuscript narrative by Mr. J. Francis Fisher, 



460 



CHARLESTON 



of Philadelphia, who married Miss Eliza Middleton, also 
mentions Jones's. Later than Jones's was Eliza Lee's, 
— the house now called the Mansion House in Broad 







The Mansion House — "Eliza Lee's" 

Street. Both Jones and Lee were in great subjection to 
their wives, who were excellent cooks, and as excellent 
cooks are apt to be, great termagants as well. 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 461 

Their tempers were chiefly expended upon their hus- 
bands, and did not affect the guests, except that the 
latter were sometimes amused by glimpses, through an 
open door, of a cuff or a slap, with a dishcloth, bestowed 
in the pantry by his angry spouse upon the pompous butler 
of the dining room. Both women were mulattoes, cleverer 
than their dark husbands, and so oppressed them ; but they 
kept good clean houses with attentive and well-managed 
servants, owned by themselves. 

The first hotel was the Planters' — now a ruinous old 
building opposite to the Huguenot church, at the corner 
of Queen Street. " A merry place it was in time of yore," 
when the wealthy men of the middle country, Hamptons, 
Mannings, Richardsons, Singletons, Canteys, etc., would 
come down with their families, and retinues of horses, 
carriages, and servants, for two or three weeks of " the 
season," for the races, of course. General Cantey was one 
of the last of those gentlemen, who, objecting to run his 
horses for money, yet dearly loved a race. 

He satisfied his conscience, says " The History of the 
Turf," by never putting his winnings into his own pocket, 
but giving them to one of the Camden charities or to the 
Orphan House. 

Returning travellers vivified and brightened society. 
Especially was this the case when Mr. Henry Middleton, 
who, after being member of Congress, Governor in 1812, 
etc., had been appointed Minister to Russia, came home 
permanently. Mrs. Middleton was Miss Herring, an Eng- 
lish lady ; and their children had grown up during their 
father's long stay of eight years at St. Petersburg. Mr. 
Middleton had been greatly esteemed by the Czar Nicholas, 
who upon his departure presented him with beautiful 
portraits of himself and the Czarina — an especial mark of 
favour, granted, it is said, to only two other diplomatists. 
These pictures of the handsomest of the Romanoffs, which 



462 



CHARLESTON 



still remain, were brought home to Middleton Place when 
Mr. Middleton, withdrawing from public life, established 
himself there with his unusually agreeable and cultivated 
family. The young people were full of the accomplish- 




The Old Planters' Hotel 

ments and animation springing from wide and varied asso- 
ciations. The eldest daughter, Miss Maria Middleton, 
afterward Mrs. Edward Pringle, was peculiarly distin- 
guished ; an excellent musician and brilliant talker, she 
drew and painted with taste and skill, and was graceful 
and charming in all social arts and scenes. Her youngest 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 463 

sister, who married Mr. J. Francis Fisher of Philadelphia, 
greatly resembled her. 

Mr. Henry Middleton's younger brother, John Izard, 
came back also for a time to Carolina. His life had been 
romantic and picturesque. Inheriting a large fortune 
from his mother he had been able to indulge his artistic 
talent and fancy and had for many years wandered over 
Europe, studying and painting, chiefly in Italy and Greece. 
He was really an archaeologist. Professor Charles Eliot 
Norton of Harvard, in a memoir lately published, calls 
him the first American archaeologist, and dwells on the 
accuracy and excellence of the drawings reproduced in 
his chief work — a folio published in London in the year 
1818, entitled " Grecian remains in Italy, a description 
of Cyclopean walls and of Roman antiquities with topo- 
graphical and picturesque views of ancient Latium by 
J. J. Middleton." Many beautiful water-colour drawings 
by this gentleman are still in possession of the family. 
They are generally scenes or buildings of Greece and Italy, 
the works of an artist, not an amateur ; but apparently 
his ample fortune, variety of talent, and social success com- 
bined to make him careless of the reputation which he 
might have won had necessity or ambition spurred him 
on. Life was too easy and pleasant for laborious days. 
In Paris he enjoyed the intimate friendship of Madame 
de Stael and of Madame Recamier. 

Madame de Stael paid him the doubtful compliment of 
saying that the languid hero of " Corinne," Lord Nelvil, 
was drawn from him — a compliment which he did not 
highly prize. 

For Madame Recamier he had a warm and sincere ad- 
miration and esteem. A beautiful copy on porcelain of 
Gerard's well-known portrait of this lady, still at Middle- 
ton Place, is said to have been given by her to Mr. 
Middleton. 



464 CHARLESTON 

He married Mademoiselle de Falconet, the daughter of 
a great Swiss banker living at Naples, and some time 
later brought his wife to Charleston. They established 
themselves in a large house, at the corner of Meeting Street 
and South Bay, which had belonged to his mother's family, 
the Izards, intending to reside there permanently. Un- 
fortunately they lingered too long one spring at Middle- 
ton Place, where their only child, a little girl, contracted 
the fever of the country and died. It was too much for 
the poor mother : her child's face was ever before her ; she 
sank into a melancholy and died a few years later. 

A portrait of this lady still remains ; it is very beautiful : 
the face of a Muse with long, straight, noble features, mag- 
nificent eyes, and graceful, majestic figure. 

It may easily be imagined how the coming of such spirits 
as these would quicken and animate a society in which 
there was already so much intellect and cultivation as in 
that of Charleston. Hospitality and gayety remained 
as great, but took on a lighter, more modern fashion. 
"They brought us into touch with the last European 
thought and custom," was said of the Middletons, years 
after, by a near and dear friend of many years' standing. 

Never since the years immediately preceding the Revo- 
lution was Charleston so prosperous, so cheerful, so full 
of advance of every sort, as in those between 1840 and 
1860. By this time the commerce of the place had re- 
gained its proper position. 

No longer abandoned to strangers, there were now im- 
portant mercantile houses of her own people. Her cotton 
and rice were carried in ships owned at home, her impor- 
tations came direct from Europe. 

Her wharves were filled with vessels flying the Ameri- 
can flag. The old Exchange, by this time called the 
Custom House, bristled with eager merchants and cap- 
tains. The office of Collector of the Port was one of 




2h 



465 



466 CHARLESTON 

importance. It was considered of much consequence that 
the incumbent should be acceptable to the business men 
of the town. In 1845, President Polk proposed to nomi- 
nate a new one. On this subject Mr. Poinsett, who then 
resided chiefly on his Peedee plantation, wrote to Mr. 
William Bull Pringle, his connection. After speaking of 
other offices he says : — 

" I did not sign the memorial in favour of Mr. X's ap- 
pointment. I refused to do so on the ground that the 
Collectorship of the Port was one of peculiar interest 
to the Merchants and citizens of Charleston with which a 
non-resident ought not to interfere." 

Other things were beginning. In addition to the old 
Charleston Library another society was founded, called 
the Apprentices' Library ; the idea being that the books 
collected should be more especially adapted to the needs 
of young tradesmen and mechanics. The society built a 
good hall in Meeting Street, which was used for lectures, 
etc., the library and reading-room being below. Here 
Glidden lectured on Ancient Egypt, Agassiz on Zoology 
and the Glaciers, Thackeray on the Georges, etc., and 
Macready, declaring himself too old to act " Hamlet," read 
it to an enthralled audience. Here there were for several 
winters loan exhibitions of paintings, the moving spirit 
being Mr. Fraser, who never during his long life relaxed 
his devotion to art. 

The paintings exhibited were generally portraits — 
three or four by Romney, as many by Sir Joshua, a dozen 
or so of Copley's, and more by Stuart, Trumbull, Peale, 
Morse, etc., with many lovely Sullys. 

Washington Allston's " Bloody Hand " was at one time 
exhibited here, and possibly others of his pictures. Sully 
and Allston were native Carolinians. 

One very beautiful picture shown here had a peculiar 
story. One of the " characters " of the place in the earlier 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 467 

part of the century was Miss Van Rhyn, a very clever old 
Dutch woman, of whose past life absolutely nothing was 
known. Her education and mother-wit were quite beyond 
her station, which was that of a small shopkeeper. Her 
wares were always good ; for fine Holland linen, Flanders 
lace, Dutch Delft ware, etc., people always went to Miss 
Van Rhyn. Her manners were odd and abrupt but not 
common, and the good ladies, her patrons, enjoyed a talk 
with her and her humorous, caustic remarks. 

She had received particular kindness from Miss Lynch 
Bowman, granddaughter of Thomas Lynch of the Revolu- 
tion, and at her death left her this picture, which had, she 
said, been painted by Van Dyck ! The picture was lovely 
enough to have been attributed to any artist. It was 
"Charity," a beautiful woman of large and generous pro- 
portions with an infant at the breast and exquisite little 
children clinging round her knees. There was the noble 
poise of the head, and the hands with which all Van Dyck's 
creations are blessed ; but there was much incredulity as 
to a painting by Van Dyck being in the old lady's posses- 
sion. When, however, it was found that Van Dyck's 
favourite pupil was named Van Rhyn, and that he was 
known to have done much work on his master's canvases, 
the mystery received a possible solution. This painting 
received so much injury during the Confederate War 
that its restoration was impossible. 

There were many exquisite miniatures by Malbone, who 
spent some time in Charleston about 1800, and many of 
Mr. Eraser's own. These form a gallery of almost every 
Charlestonian distinguished in any way from 1800 to 1850. 
He excelled in likeness and expression, and although his 
painting lacks the delicacy of Malbone's, it is still good. 
This is but an inadequate account of these exhibitions, 
which did much to stimulate the taste for art. They 
increased in interest as time went on, and many new 
paintings were brought from Europe. 



468 CHARLESTON 

The theatre then was in Meeting Street, near the site 
of the present Gibbes Art Gallery. It was large for those 
days and handsome, built in the old way with a pit, in 
which none but men sat, two tiers of boxes and a gallery 
above all. There was always a good stock company, and 
stars came frequently. Fanny Ellsler danced there, Jenny 
Lind sang, and Rachel acted Adrienne Lecouvreur ; to 
name only three of the many artists who trod those 
boards. 

To give an account of the many households, or of the 
still more numerous individuals, who together formed the 
vanished society of that time would be impossible, but 
some few may be mentioned to give an idea of the people 
and their life. 

Each family was generally characterized by some es- 
pecial taste or interest, but in all the manner of life was, 
broadly speaking, the same. 

In the Middleton household, as has been said, the artistic 
prevailed; there was a certain foreign tone, also, from 
long residence abroad and several European marriages. 

At Judge Huger's, the house in Meeting Street from 
which Lord and Lady William Campbell had fled at the 
beginning of the Revolution, politics held chief part. 

The Judge himself was one of the striking figures of 
the day. When in Congress he was frequently called the 
typical Southern Conservative, but his standing among 
his fellow-citizens was due to a fine high-mindedness which 
commanded their respect, and reconciled them to his proud 
and masterful temper. This was so marked that he was 
said to have replied to some suggestions, sent to him in 
Congress from his constituents at home : " They think 
so-and-so, do they? They have no right to think at all; 
here I am to think for them." Yet his high temper was 
under control. When insulted in the Senate, he re- 
marked with deadly coolness, " This is not the place for 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 469 

personal altercation," continued his speech unmoved, and 
— challenged his accuser that night. The latter apolo- 
gized, both to 'him and to the chamber, extolling the con- 
duct of the Carolinian. 

Earlier in life he had shown his disinterestedness when, 
being a circuit judge, he had advised the diminution of 
the salary of that office. The salary was diminished ac- 
cordingly, with the proviso that the men then on the 
bench should hold theirs intact. Judge Huger imme- 
diately resigned, resuming the position at the reduced 
rate. 

So in 1845 he voluntarily withdrew from the Senate, in 
order to make room for Mr. Calhoun, whose presence, it was 
felt, was necessary for the welfare of the State, and after- 
ward took no active part in public life. His many sons 
and daughters were now grown up, and his house was gay 
with a delightful family. 

The eldest daughter, Miss Emma Huger, handsome, 
high-bred, and witty, was said to be the greatest belle ever 
known in Charleston. No one knew the number of her 
suitors, but no one was surprised when she chose, from 
among them all, a man marked by personal distinction, 
Mr. Joseph Allen Smith — who assumed his mother's name 
of Izard — once an officer of the army, but then a planter 
on Savannah River. This remarkable couple, known and 
admired in this country and in Europe, made the brilliancy 
of the house. 

The Judge's dinners were famous; the legal element, of 
course, prevailing, but not lawyers only — every one who 
took an interest in public affairs, or was important in the 
State or city. Mr. Petigru, Judge King, Mr. Legare, 
and Mr. Alfred Huger were among the most remarkable. 

Mr. Petigru, the acknowledged leader of the bar, fa- 
mous for his luminous expositions of the philosophy and 
reason of the law, as well as for his irresistible humour and 



470 



CHARLESTON 



pathos when addressing a jury, was also the fortune of a 
dinner party, — full of witty anecdote, with a voice and 
expression that gave zest to every bon mot. 




The Simonton Gateway, Legare Street 

He had in years to come the great sorrow of differing 
upon the most vital points from the great majority of his 
countrymen, and of seeing them adopt a course which to 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 471 

him presaged only disaster. But he had also the great 
consolation of knowing that such difference never lost him 
their high esteem and consideration; a tribute paid by the 
public to character and consistency. 

Hugh Svvinton Legare was perhaps the best scholar and 
finest speaker there: a great jurist, a classical scholar, 
and an orator. He had been much away from home, hav- 
ing been for a long time charge d'affaires at Brussels. 
This was once used as the pretext to twit him with an in- 
difference to his own State. His friend, Mr. Pringle, told 
of the animation with which he sprang up, exclaiming, 
" Sir, he who is indifferent to his native State must be 
wanting here or here" touching head and heart as he 
spoke. 

Mr. Legare was slightly lame, but his head was fine, 
his eyes luminous, and his voice an organ of many stops. 
He loved to read poetry aloud, and nothing could be finer 
than his tones in Manfred's soliloquy, or Dryden's " long- 
resounding line." He was appointed Attorney-general 
of the United States, and died in middle life in Boston, 
where he had gone to deliver a Bunker Hill oration. 

Mr. Alfred Huger — called in his later years " the last 
of the Barons " — was the most striking figure of all. His 
tall, erect form, leonine head, deep eyes, shaggy brows, and 
sonorous voice harmonized perfectly with the rugged 
strength of his character, which was of the highest quality. 
Taking no active share in public life, he yet thought 
deeply upon political questions, as his letters attest. Per- 
sonal interest never influenced him; not a rich man, he 
was always a most generous one, and having no children 
of his own, he was a father to many orphans. He was 
honoured in public estimation for many things, for none 
more than for his conduct in Nullification times. The 
postmaster was the venerable Peter Bacot, who had 
been appointed to his office by General Washington him- 



472 CHARLESTON 

self. An appointee of Washington was a sacred character 
then, and no one dreamed of disturbing the old gentleman 
(who was an excellent officer), until President Jackson 
and the spoils doctrine came in together. Even then he 
would have been unmolested had he not been a Nullifyer. 
Jackson thereupon determined to remove him, and offered 
the position to Mr. Alfred Huger, a Unionist. The place 
would at that time have been of great consequence to Mr. 
Huger, but he unhesitatingly declined it. " Nothing," 
he said, " would induce him to supplant so excellent a man 
and officer as Mr. Bacot upon merely political grounds ! " 
No persuasion could move him from his purpose, and 
Jackson then conferred the appointment upon his own 
nephew, Mr. Hayes, who had married Miss Frances 
Middleton (cousin of Mr. Henry Middleton). 

Mr. Hayes came down with his commission in his 
pocket, but after being a short time in the town, and 
learning the warmth of public feeling on the matter, he 
informed his uncle that he too declined the appointment, 
destroyed the commission in the presence of Mr. Bacot, 
and left the city. The old gentleman held the situation 
until his death, and it was then conferred upon Mr. 
Huger, who held it until the outbreak of the war between 
the States, so that for seventy years there were but two 
postmasters in Charleston. Mr. Huger survived the war 
and died, unshaken by misfortune, almost the last of his 
generation. 

At these dinners every public question was ably dis- 
cussed by men who were, or who had been, in political life 
themselves; and the younger men, the Judge's sons, sons- 
in-law, and their friends, learned and carried on the faiths 
of their fathers. 

It would be a great omission not to mention, in an 
account of this house, that important personage, Jack, the 
butler. Jack disputed with another old man, Harry, the 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 473 

butler of Mrs. Henry Izard, the reputation of being 
the best and most thoroughly trained servant in the town. 
From the judging of the wines to the arrangement of a 
salt spoon there was nothing which these withered brown 
potentates did not decide and maintain. Nothing would 
have astonished either more than that master or mistress 
should dissent from his verdict. 

Jack was intolerant of anything which he considered a 
breach of the etiquette of the table. Nothing could have 
induced him to serve a gentleman before a lady, or a 
younger before an elder brother. To place fruit and wine 
on a table-cloth instead of upon the mahogany was to him 
a falling from grace. On one occasion he was much 
annoyed when a senator from the up-country twice asked 
for rice with his fish ! To the first request he simply re- 
mained deaf; at the second he bent down and whispered 
into the senatorial ear. The genial gentleman nodded 
and suppressed a laugh ; but when the servants had left 
the room, he burst into a roar, and cried — "Judge, you 
have a treasure. Jack: has saved me from disgrace, from 
exposing my ignorance ; he whispered, 4 That wouldn't do, 
sir; we never eats rice with fish ! " 

Of all the gentlemen here described none was perhaps 
more remarkable than Judge King. Having come as a 
very young man from Scotland to the most conservative 
of cities, without especial introductions, he had made him- 
self by force of intellect, learning, and character one of 
the most prominent and valued citizens ; had been long 
upon the Bench, had acquired a large fortune, and for 
many years owned and occupied the handsome house at 
the corner of Meeting and George streets, now the High 
School. 

Here, surrounded by his large and cultivated family, he 
entertained with the most genial kindliness, perhaps 
more constantly than any other gentleman. For over 



474 CHARLESTON 

twenty years Mrs. King's ball took place on Tuesday in 
Race week, as regularly as the Jockey Ball on Friday. 
The Judge's dinners were many and most agreeable. 
Conversation under his guidance was never trivial or 
personal. The topics were literature, travel, important 
events, questions of the day, — all illustrated with the 
anecdote and experience of a rich, well-stored mind. His 
voice was deep and melodious ; it was an event to hear 
him read Burns, with just enough accent to give the true 
flavour to the lines. He lived long enough to see the 
world crumbling around him, dying toward the close of 
the War between the States. 

All these gentlemen were members of a rather re- 
markable literary club, which, formed somewhere in the 
twenties, it is said chiefly at the instigation of Judge 
Prioleau, held its last meetings in 1860. 

For all those years this club met once a fortnight from 
October to May at the house of one or other member. The 
host of the evening was expected to prepare a paper on 
whatever subject he might choose.* The subject was al- 
ways announced at the previous meeting, that the members 
might not be unacquainted with the matter. The reading 
ended, the other gentlemen present took it up, asked ques- 
tions or discussed the subject. The topic was dropped 
when supper was announced, punctually at eleven o'clock, 
and general conversation wound up the evening. 

Strangers were always cordially invited, and often the 
host would prevail on one of them to take his place as 
speaker of the evening, thus adding the zest of variety to 
the entertainment. Literature, science, foreign affairs, art 
and social questions were the subjects for discussion, 
religion and American politics being barred. 

Mr. Fraser's " Reminiscences," so often quoted, were 
written to be read here, and some other essays — for 
such they really were — were long remembered; as when 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 475 

Hugh S win ton Legare spoke on Greek Republics, Mr. 
Poinsett on South American ones, Maury on the Hydrog- 
raphy of the Seas, or Agassiz on the Coal Measures. 

The leading planters, lawyers, doctors, clergymen, and 
merchants all belonged to the club. In later years Sir 
Charles Lyell, Professors Agassiz, Nicholls (Astronomer 
Royal), and Bache, Mr. Everett, Commodore Maury, and 
others, too many to mention, have all addressed it. It may 
safely be said that from somewhere in the twenties until 
1860 few strangers of any note visited Charleston without 
being entertained at this most agreeable of societies. 

But little has yet been said of the ladies of this time; 
not that there were not many worthy of all praise and 
admiration, but in deference to that reserve which was 
their honourable and distinctive trait. In that day and 
in that class, ladies shunned all public exercise or display 
of talent or beauty. Their letters were admirable, but 
they did not write books. They charmed drawing-rooms 
with their voices or music, but never appeared on a stage. 
They talked delightfully, but did not make speeches ; and 
although they captivated men with their beauty and charm 
they were not professional beauties. 

The few who have been named here have been chosen 
because each was preeminent in her own way, and because 
neither has left a daughter to continue her tradition. 

There was, however, one household in which the guid- 
ing spirit was so distinctly a lady, and that lady so essen- 
tially a Charlestonian of the Charlestonians, that the writer 
departs from this reserve in order to complete the study 
of the life of the town by the observations of travellers. 

This was the old colonial home, in Tradd Street, of 
Mrs. Frederick Rutledge, granddaughter of Eliza Pinck- 
ney, and widow of the second son of Governor John 
Rutledge. 

The animating spirit was her daughter, Harriott Pinck- 



476 CHARLESTON 

ney, wife of the eminent naturalist, Dr. John Edwards 
Holbrook. Here were no politics ; science and literature 
reigned supreme. Dr. Holbrook, a Carolinian by birth, 
and with a Carolinian mother, was, on the father's side, 
of a Massachusetts family. He was Professor of Anatomy 
in the Medical College of Charleston, and was, says 
Professor Agassiz, the first native-born American to re- 
ceive recognition and esteem among the zoologists of 
Europe, — his first work, u The Herpetology of North 
America," having procured him that distinction. 

He had an immense foreign correspondence, and re- 
ceived innumerable letters of introduction from Europe 
and the North. A silent man, with a talent for making 
others talk, he enjoyed society almost as much as did 
his brilliant wife. 

She, sympathizing thoroughly in her husband's pur- 
suits, had her own interests as well. Mrs. Rutledge 
gladly opened her doors to her daughter's friends, and 
few societies were more agreeable and intellectual than 
that gathered in the old house which still bore the mark 
of Clinton's shell. 

From Friday afternoon to Monday morning during 
the winter, and for the month of April, when the exer- 
cises of the college were at an end, Dr. and Mrs. Hol- 
brook were usually to be found at a pretty cottage built 
on the site of Mrs. Pinckney's pre-Revolutionary home, 
Belmont, about four miles from town. Belmont house 
had been burned by the British, and its woods destroyed, 
as Mrs. Pinckney laments in her letters ; but sixty years 
had done much to repair the waste. Of this place and 
its inmates, Mrs. Agassiz, the wife of the great professor, 
writes in the Life of her husband. After speaking of 
his lectures and work generally, she says of Agassiz, his 
wife and family, using Mrs. Holbrook's pet name for her 
country home : — 




477 



478 CHARLESTON 

" Their holidays and occasional vacations were passed 
at the house of Dr. John E. Holbrook, the ' Hollow Tree ' " 
(properly "Belmont" — the " Hollow Tree" was only a pet 
name for the old family place of the Pinckneys'), "an ex- 
quisitely pretty and picturesque country place in the 
neighbourhood of Charleston. Here Agassiz had been 
received almost as one of the family on his first visit 
to Charleston, shortly after his arrival in the United 
States. Dr. Holbrook's name, as the author of the 
'Herpetology of South Carolina '" (North America), "had 
long been familiar to him, and he now found a congenial 
and affectionate friend in the colleague and fellow-worker 
whose personal acquaintance he had been anxious to 
make. Dr. Holbrook's wife, a direct descendant of John 
Rutledge, of our revolutionary history, not only shared 
her husband's intellectual life, but had herself rare mental 
qualities, which had been developed by an unusually com- 
plete and efficient education. The wide and various 
range of her reading, the accuracy of her knowledge in 
matters of history and literature, and the charm of her 
conversation, made her a delightful companion. She ex- 
ercised the most beneficent influence upon her large circle 
of young people, and without any effort to attract, she 
drew to herself whatever was most bright and clever in 
the society about her. The 4 Hollow Tree,' presided over 
by its hospitable host and hostess, was, therefore, the 
centre of a stimulating and cultivated social intercourse, 
free from all gene or formality. Here Agassiz and his 
family spent many happy days during their southern 
sojourn of 1852. The woods were yellow with jessamine, 
and the low, deep piazza was shut in by vines and roses ; 
the open windows and the soft air full of sweet, out-of- 
door fragrance made one forget, spite of the wood fire 
on the hearth, that it was winter by the calendar. The 
days, passed almost wholly in the woods or on the veranda, 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 479 

closed with evenings spent not infrequently in discussions 
upon the scientific ideas and theories of the day, carried 
often beyond the region of demonstrated facts into that 
of speculative thought." 

The Swedish novelist, Miss Bremer, is also enthusiastic 
in her description of Belmont and its mistress, M that 
thinker, inspiring and sympathetic, with whom she passed 
an entire day tete-a-tete, with ever increasing pleasure and 
admiration and no weariness." 

Mr. J. Francis Fisher, whose MS. has already been 
quoted, after speaking of Mrs. Rutledge and her mother 
Mrs. Horry (Mrs. Pinckney's daughter), says: "Mrs. 
Holbrook was the dear friend of my wife and our almost 
annual guest from the year of our marriage. ... In 
Europe they" (Dr. and Mrs. Holbrook) "joined us at 
Schwalbach — Mrs. H. brought up by the accomplished 
ladies I have just mentioned was the most thoroughly 
informed and agreeable talker I ever knew — without the 
slightest pedantry or conceit. Her conversation had more 
in it than that of any other woman I ever met. She 
seemed to be informed on every topic, and willing to be 
led to every subject. For whole days we have been 
together when her fund of pleasant things never seemed 
to run dry. Without being a wit everything took a 
bright turn with her, and she had some anecdote or illus- 
tration to give emphasis and interest to any subject. 
She would discuss the most serious subjects in a tone 
which was the very opposite of that of an esprit fort, 
while it exhibited the candour, independence and vigour 
of a remarkable mind." 

This lady, whose large and loving nature was as re- 
markable as her intellectual qualities, died toward the close 
of the Confederate war, broken-hearted at the ruin of her 
country. 

If it takes all sorts of people to make a world, so is it 



480 CHARLESTON 

also with that little world which we call society. Besides 
the life which has been described, there was another, gay, 
bright, insouclante as the spirit of youth could make it. 
A world where happy young folks mingled with tranquil 
old ones, and the girls and boys danced and flirted while 
the elders looked on and talked of their own youth. It 
was the day of small and easy parties, meeting about 
eight o'clock for tea; then talk, music, games, perhaps a 
little dance — ice-cream and cake, a glass of wine for the 
men, lemonade for the ladies, and by twelve every one 
at home again ; — no trouble, no display, no gene! 

The athletic outdoor games of the present day did 
not exist — even croquet was not ; but there were 
bowling parties, and some archery, and boating, and 
every one rode — long, delightful rides through the shady 
lanes and thick odorous woods that then surrounded the 
town — all swept away now. 

The Battery was a cool and cheerful walk and drive, 
and the large gardens had arbours where tea-tables were 
set, or gentlemen smoked the tobacco then forbidden in 
drawing-rooms. 

There was one figure of that time so entirely unique 
that it should not be omitted here. The widow of an 
Englishman, Mrs. Holland was a connection of the 
Robert J. Turnbull family, and was, like Mr. Turnbull 
himself, partly of Greek descent. She was, even in middle 
life, extremely handsome, of a tall, full form, with beauti- 
ful arms and hands, oval face, soft, lustrous dark eyes, 
and a complexion of that perfect whiteness that sometimes 
goes with black hair. 

Her dress was peculiar, — always of soft-flowing white, 
of no particular fashion that could be discovered, except 
that the full folds seemed rather to drape than to dress 
her, and that the wide sleeves, in falling back, showed the 
arms to the elbow, or drawn down, covered the hand. 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 481 

She never, by any chance, put on a bonnet, hat, or cap, 
wearing instead a large white lace veil which covered 
head, shoulders, and arms. In winter a white cashmere 
shawl with a narrow palm-leaf border (the only coloured 
thing ever seen about her) was added for warmth. Her 
black, closely braided hair was bound by a "fillet" — a 
slender gold chain with a large jewel in the centre, worn 
just where the part of the hair begins on the brow. It 
was popularly reported that she slept in this; at least, no 
one ever saw her without it. 

This picturesquely garbed lady was one of the most 
charming of women. She had a delightful voice, both in 
speaking and singing; was very fond of society, and in 
great request. 

But, although in very narrow circumstances, her pride 
as well as her inclination made it imperative for her to 
return the invitations which she received, and this she 
did with the most perfect taste and simplicity. She lived 
in two small rooms in the house of a friend. One of 
these, her bedroom, became for these very frequent oc- 
casions a second salon. A couple of shawls converted the 
small bed into a couch; wardrobe and toilet table were 
disposed of. Here came eagerly every one invited, the 
very flower of the town. Mrs. Holland's charming man- 
ner of receiving her guests, the attention paid to each, set 
every one at ease. She played upon the guitar and sang 
delightfully sweet songs, English, Italian, and Greek — 
that all could appreciate and enjoy; sometimes asking one 
or another visitor to accompany her. 

Her conversation was as varied as her music: grave, 
gay, or pathetic, but always gentle, dignified, and easy. 
Men and women loved to talk with her. Only once was 
there a contretemps, when some blunderer drew out a 
door pushed back against a wall, and the lady's robes, 
hung behind it, swung out into the room! Not in the 
2 i 



482 CHARLESTON 

least embarrassed or annoyed, Mrs. Holland smilingly 
apologized for "the intrusion of her garments," begged 
the gentleman to replace the door, and — sang another song. 

The refreshments were the simplest possible. Lemon- 
ade or claret-sanger, and sweet wafers, made crisp and 
fresh at the moment by her own maid; — nothing more. 
Yet so great was the charm of the reunions that gentle- 
men and ladies would leave the handsomest parties to go 
to them. When the guests were so many that chairs 
failed, benches were brought in, sometimes even boxes — 
no one cared. There was a story of one very accomplished 
gentleman lately returned from Italy, who was asked by 
another as they left the house, u Do you know on what 
you have been sitting?" u No." "On the edge of a 
packing box with 4 soap' branded on the bottom." "My 
dear sir, I would sit on St. Laurence's gridiron to have 
the pleasure of spending the evening with Mrs. Holland." 

This charming lady died leaving no family. 

The story of the events of these years has been post- 
poned in order not to interrupt the sketch of that society 
which was so soon to pass away. The events were not 
many, and at the time few perceived their political sig- 
nificance, but the burning of old St. Philip's went to every 
heart. 

It has already been told how it had once been saved 
from the flames by a sailor climbing to the steeple. It is 
hard to believe that this example could be forgotten, but 
the extract of a contemporaneous letter shows that it 
was so. 

"But St. Philip's! the least exertion would have saved 
it, one good head might have saved that noble building. 
Nothing was done, however, they stood and saw it burn 
to ashes. The steeple caught first, one wet blanket could 
have extinguished it, but though there were hundreds of 
sailors in port nobody thought of sending a few up to the 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 



483 




The South Portal and Gates, St. Philip's Church 

roof to smother the one spot of flame. That one spot 
spread, wreathed slowly round, and finally burnt the 
church to the ground without one single effort having 



484 CHARLESTON 

been made to save it. It seems to have been the direct 
will of Heaven that it should have perished by the stupe- 
faction of everybody who looked on. Poor Mr. Gads- 
den" (the Rector, afterward Bishop) "fainted when he 
saw it; but on the former occasion Mr. Frost" (then 
Rector) " offered a great reward, and it was saved. . . . 
Subscriptions are flying about for rebuilding." 

The paper on the following day gives much the same 
account. Only one of the monuments was saved — a 
statue of Grief ! A mural tablet to Colonel Daniel, of the 
first attack on St. Augustine, after being lost for sixty 
years, has lately been discovered used as a well-curb, and 
has been placed on the wall of the present, the third, 
St. Philip's. The subscriptions for this were liberal. The 
new edifice soon arose, larger, in some respects handsomer, 
than the old, but its prestige was lost; St. Michael's is 
now the historic church of the city. 

The outbreak of the Mexican war, long foreshadowed 
as it was, caused much excitement throughout the South- 
ern States. 

Mr. Calhoun's earnest opposition surprised many who 
did not follow his line of thought to the ultimate results. 

The war was extremely popular with the people at large, 
who saw in it the opportunity for military distinction, and 
increase of territory for the South. 

The young men marched off gayly to win honour in the 
"Palmetto Regiment," under the command of General 
Scott, on almost every field from Vera Cruz to the City 
of Mexico. Almost all of the higher officers afterward 
distinguished in the war between the States had won 
their spurs in Mexico. 

In March, 1850, came the great blow — the death of 
Mr. Calhoun, following close upon the Mexican War. It 
is impossible to express the grief, one might say the con- 
sternation, of the people ; to give any idea of the sense of 




St. Philip's Church 



SOCIAL TOPICS. MEXICAN WAR 485 

lost leadership which men endured. When his remains 
were brought home, every house was hung with mourning, 
every sleeve wore a band of black ; as the stately pageant 
of his funeral swept through the streets, sobs were heard 
on every side and strong men's eyes were full of tears, — 
their Prince had fallen. 

The city begged that, though not of her sons, he might 
yet rest within her walls ; and his children granted the 
request, feeling that it was fitting that the greatest of 
Carolinians should lie with the great men of past times. 
His tomb stands in the centre of St. Philip's western 
churchyard, — " one green Magnolia for all sentinel." 

For ten years more the town lived its normal, pleasant 
life, as has been shown. It was a city of happy homes 
and cheerful intercourse. Relationships were many, 
friendships strong. A stranger who had lived among 
them for eighteen years said, " They were a high-minded, 
noble, generous people, confiding and confided in. . . . 
It was only for one man to ask a favour of another to have 
it granted, and granted in such a manner that he did not 
feel it to be a favour. There was no stopping to calcu- 
late the loss or gain by the granting or withholding of 
it." 

The fears of politicians, the debates in Congress, the 
threats of enemies, disturbed them but little. All trusted 
to the Constitution, hoped for a peaceful solution of the 
difficulties, and dreamed of happy days to come. 

The awakening came in eighteen hundred and sixty. 



CHAPTER XXI 

CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 

IN order to finish the story of Charleston, some mention 
of the war in which her old life ended must be made, 
briefly as possible. 

This is not the place for a detailed account of the 
causes or of the conduct of that war. The one would 
demand the pen of a statesman, the other that of a soldier. 
Either would say that the trouble had begun in the early 
days, even at the adoption of the Constitution itself. 

But, popularly speaking, it was not until the abolition 
movement of the twenties — already alluded to — that any 
real difficulty was apprehended by the people at large. 

Soon after Mr. Calhoun's death the disputes about the 
newly acquired territories, and whether they should abide 
by the agreements of the Missouri Compromise, became 
bitter. The action of the " Free-soil Party " and of the 
legislatures of many of the Northern States, in sending 
petitions to Congress for the abolition or restriction of 
slavery, contrary to the Southern reading of the provisions 
of the Constitution, irritated and alarmed the people. 

A convention was called in South Carolina to consider 
the dangers to the rights of the States. In this conven- 
tion the question was put whether the State should decide 
to secede from the Union, either singly or in cooperation 
with her sister States. After much debate, the conven- 
tion, by a majority of 136 to 19, adopted a resolution 
offered by the Honourable Langdon Cheves, affirming the 
right of secession, but declaring it inexpedient to use the 
right at that time. 

486 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 487 

The matter thus settled, the people were content for the 
moment. The Secession party was then so small that it had 
not attracted much attention except in political circles. 

It was very different, however, when in 1859 the John 
Brown raid outraged the South. The prompt action of 
the Federal Government prevented further disorders, but 
the feeling evinced by the North filled the South with 
horror and indignation : much as loyal Spain might feel 
to-day if England should extol and canonize the would-be 
assassin of King Alphonso and his bride ! 

For the first time the Southern people thoroughly 
understood how they were regarded, and when the split in 
the Democratic party assured the election of Mr. Lincoln, 
they prepared for the worst. 

South Carolina took the lead — not unnaturally, for 
her political faith had been taught by her great statesman 
and her creed was clear. 

The Legislature, called to await the result of the Presi- 
dential election, on hearing that Mr. Lincoln was chosen, 
at once summoned a convention of the people. It met at 
Columbia on the 17th of December, 1860, and immedi- 
ately adjourned to Charleston. 

St. Andrew's Hall, in Broad Street, the scene of so 
many joyous entertainments, was the place of meeting. 
The delegates occupied the gilt, velvet-covered chairs 
sacred to the chaperons of the St. Cecilia ; and the 
president, Mr. Jamison of Barnwell, stood on the dais 
below the beautiful picture of the young Victoria, in her 
coronation robes, painted from life by Sully for the faithful 
Scotchmen. 

The time was too grave for thought of these accessories. 

On the 20th of December the Convention passed unani- 
mously the Ordinance of Secession, and the State stood 
alone ! 

By dark that evening every one knew that the die was 



488 CHARLESTON 

cast. The excitement was intense but quiet ; there was 
no tumult, no huzzaing, no shouting. One or two per- 
sons illuminated their houses, many wept as they saw the 
rejoicing. 

It was all too grave, too serious, for levity. 

Great as was the majority for Secession, there were still 
many who disapproved. 

Some grieved that the house their fathers had built 
should be destroyed, some mourned the possible severance 
of relatives and friends, some thought the moment inex- 
pedient, but none doubted the right. Even Mr. Petigru 
said, " The State is Sov'ran. Who can put a hook in the 
nose of Leviathan ? " To all her sons Carolina had always 
been their sovereign lady and mistress, and when she had 
once spoken, all obeyed. 

These were days of breathless anxiety. What would 
the other States do? What would the Government at 
Washington do ! 

When the guns sounded the secession of Florida, it was 
sweet music to the ear. 

So strong was still the belief in the controlling power 
of the Constitution that many, even of the politicians, 
really thought that there would be no war, no attempt 
at coercion. It is hard to understand now how this opin- 
ion could have been held. The whole movement was 
based upon the fact that the Constitution was being vio- 
lated, and that yet greater violations were approaching; 
and yet it was confidently asserted that in this case it 
would have power to stay the hand of the majority. It 
is a curious proof of the influence that the study of the 
Constitution and the trust in its authority had over the 
men of that day, for the belief prevailed among those 
best versed in its provisions, and the theories thereon. 
Travellers, and business men, better acquainted with the 
thought and temper of the Northern people, had no such 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 489 

illusions. Their anxiety was intense. This belief, long 
continued in many quarters, had an unfortunate effect in 
preventing or delaying preparations and measures most 
necessary at the time. 

On the 25th of December, Major Anderson, command- 
ing at Fort Moultrie, moved his whole force under cover 
of night to Fort Sumter, entirely unperceived. The 
women and children of the garrison, whom he sent up to 
town, requesting that they should be sent North, brought 
the news. 

Fort Sumter, standing grim and terrible sixty feet 
above the waves in the centre of the harbour, mounted 
one hundred and forty guns, many of which seemed to 
look directly into the front windows of the Battery houses. 

Doubt and delay were done. Then came the call to 
arms. Quick and bright was the answer, — the State 
knew her sons. 

All was life and animation, — every man volunteered. 
Some were officers, more were privates — the private 
everywhere the favourite. The militia companies grew 
sixty to a hundred strong in a day. New companies 
were formed ; the old ones split into first and second 
corps, their recruits were so many. 

In the country it was the same thing, the whole State 
sprang to arms. The other forts, Moultrie, Johnson, and 
Pinckney, were garrisoned ; earthworks were begun at 
many points. Events followed too quickly to relate. 
A vessel, The Star of the West, with troops and provisions, 
attempted to reach Fort Sumter, was fired upon by a 
small battery upon Morris Island, and withdrew. It was 
afterward believed that this was a stratagem to " fire the 
Northern heart " by the affront to the flag. It certainly 
fired the Southern; it was the beginning of coercion. 
More States seceded and a government was formed at 
Montgomery, Alabama. 



490 CHARLESTON 

There were embassies to and from Washington, " peace- 
ful envoys" sent to Major Anderson, — really to plan 
the reenforcement of the fort, — ostensibly to arrange the 
"statu quo." It must be confessed that in those many 
interviews the Southern envoys showed more good faith 
than discernment. Major Anderson was to send to 
market freely, have fresh vegetables, groceries, etc. 

No restrictions were put on the communications with 
market woman, grocer, or butcher ! 

When General Beauregard arrived to take command, 
that brilliant officer, who had learned strategy along with 
other military knowledge, limited the shopping, and put 
the purchasers under strict surveillance. 

Under General Beauregard's direction the most intel- 
ligent activity prevailed. In his Life is recorded his 
surprise at the spirit which he found. Planters laboured 
at the earthworks by the side of their slaves, no work was 
too hard or too disagreeable for the enthusiasm of these 
white-handed gentlemen ! Every man had an " infallible " 
plan for reducing Fort Sumter, and murmured only at 
the incomprehensible delay. The greatest goodhumour 
and gayety prevailed, and the Palmetto banner waved 
proudly over all. 

What was in truth much more remarkable than any 
enthusiasm on the part of the gentr}^, " the slaveholding 
aristocracy," as they used to be called, was the enthusiasm 
of the lower classes. 

It was only natural that gentlemen should do all, and 
dare all, for the faith and the order of their lives. But that 
from little store, from workshop, and from field the men 
should come with equal ardour, was astonishing. They had 
nothing to gain, no slaves to keep, — but they had their 
State to defend, and they came. It was a splendid 
exhibition of loyalty and it never failed. 

Batteries of many sorts were erected at every available 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 491 

point along Sullivan's, Morris, and James islands, so that 
Sumter stood in a semicircle of guns. 

Two of these batteries were remarkable as being the first 
of those ironclad defences afterward so much used. The 
one was the invention of a civilian, Mr., afterward 
General, Clement H. Stevens, who was killed in the 
Atlanta campaign under Joseph E. Johnston. 

It was " made of heavy timbers overlaid with railroad 
iron, so fitted together as to present a smooth inclined 
surface, to be profusely greased when ready for action. 
Three heavy guns were fired through embrasures fitted 
with thick iron shutters." The other very ingenious work 
was a floating battery, built in somewhat the same way, 
of rough logs and plated with iron. It was the de- 
vice of a gallant ex-officer of the United States Navy, 
Captain John Randolph Hamilton (the son of Governor 
Hamilton of Nullification), who had perfected it against 
much discouragement, until Beauregard arrived and pro- 
nounced it "good." When the long-postponed day of 
battle came, " Captain Jack," as the very popular sailor was 
universally called, commanded his own battery, and did 
good service against that -western side of the fort which 
no land gun could reach. 

January, February, and March were so full of crowded 
life that they seemed an eternity, and yet one dreaded 
lest eternity should end. End it did when one night at 
eleven o'clock seven guns thundered out over the town 
and every man sprang up, seized his rifle, and ran to the 
wharves. It was the signal that the relieving fleet was on 
its way South, and that the whole reserve must hurry to 
the islands. 

Several days passed; the work was ready, soldiers were 
pouring from the up-country into the town. Half the 
gentlemen of the State, whose regiments were not yet 
organized, were serving as volunteer aides on the staff of 



492 CHARLESTON 

General Beauregard or General Ripley ; their wives were 
at the Mills House or the Charleston Hotel, where Gov- 
ernor and Mrs. Pickens had their apartments. The town 
looked like a place en fete. The excitement was too great 
for alarm. Mothers parted from sons, wives from hus- 
bands, girls from lovers, dry-eyed though with trembling 
lips. There was no thought of defeat, victory was on 
every lip; yet — what might be the cost? 

At ten o'clock on the night of the 11th of April the 
signal was given that the bombardment was to begin on 
the morrow ! 

At day dawn on the twelfth a shell rose, screaming, 
from Coming's Point, into the pale amber sky, and arched 
its way to Sumter, bursting directly above the fort. In 
five minutes the Battery swarmed with people, — soon the 
houses, the wharves, even the housetops were crowded. 
The roadway was so blocked with carriages that boys 
crossed from the pavement to the sea-wall jumping from 
one roof to another rather than risk a passage among the 
horse hoofs. When a country regiment marched down, it 
was impossible to make room. It had to turn back to the 
Battery Garden. 

For two hours the shelling went steadily on with no 
response from Sumter. Even the flag did not go up until 
the sun rose ; then with military precision it slowly 
ascended the staff and floated out to the breeze. Major 
Anderson was saving ammunition, and his men were having 
breakfast, he afterward explained. At seven the fort 
began firing and kept on steadily though slowly all day. 
It was said to be the first battle on record between two 
forts firing at each other, as Moultrie and Sumter hurled 
their shot across the channel. 

The anxiety was awful; those batteries were filled with 
the men of the town. Everything from eighteen to 
sixty was there. The first blaze of excitement was over, 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 493 




Old Warehouses near East Bay 

and as the hours went on a silent, mute dread took posses- 
sion, — all were keyed to too high a pitch for audible 
emotion. Not a woman looking on but had her heart on 



494 CHARLESTON 

one of those islands. "Have you any relative there?" 
asked a stranger of one young girl. " My five brothers," 
she answered, — white, but calm. The old men moved 
about restlessly; one or two muttered something about 
the War of 1812 ! 

At last, at four in the afternoon, word came that " no 
one was hurt " — then rang out a " shout that shook the 
towers!" Some women burst into tears, — one or two 
fainted. 

How such a miracle came to pass has never been 
explained. Shot and shell, admirably aimed, had been 
flying to and fro for twelve hours. Guns had been dis- 
mounted, walls breached, batteries damaged, but no blood 
had been shed on either fort or islands ! All that night 
and next day the cannonade went on. By twelve o'clock 
a smoke was seen, to rise from the fort — it had been 
fired by red-hot shot. Boats put out, and after much 
parley, Major Anderson accepted General Beauregard's 
generous terms of surrender, saluted his flag, and was 
conveyed with all the honours of war, by the steamer 
Isabel, to the fleet, which had for hours lain, inexplicably 
idle, in the offing. 

Victory was ours ; the enemy had gone, the harbour 
was at rest, and the new flag, the " Stars and Bars " which 
Beauregard said " began to look well," floated beside the 
Palmetto from the battered walls of Sumter. 

The joy and exultation, the hope of speedy recognition 
of independence, of peace, were delightful but short-lived. 

The immediate result was the uprising of the North. 

As in the Revolution, the seat of war, after one brilliant 
exploit in Charleston harbour, shifted north, — to Vir- 
ginia, for the defence of which troops were hurried on. 
Before Beauregard went he insisted strongly on the im- 
portance of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad, and 
the intricate waterways by which it could be approached. 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 495 

It was accordingly well guarded for the next four 
years. 

At home, men and women settled down to the stern 
reality of war, — of a war for which the most necessary 
material was scant or wanting, and for which almost 
everything had to be supplied by individual effort and 
sacrifice. From the moment when our troops took posses- 
sion of the scarred and battered Sumter the work of 
rebuilding, of fortification, of drilling, of collecting 
supplies, began and went on ceaselessly. Men were at 
first the only necessaries of which there were enough ; 
more offered than could be armed and clothed. Gentle- 
men came forward and raised companies, equipping them 
entirely at their own expense. The supplies in the 
arsenals were soon exhausted and arms had to run the 
blockade, now established along the coast. One devoted 
Carolinian, over sixty, and with no military experience, 
having thus equipped a company, got the command 
of it given to his younger brother and served in it himself 
as a private. 

Every woman worked. Ladies sat day by day among 
their maids, sewing shirts and trousers for the soldiers. 
The plantation tailors were brought out to help make the 
jean coats; knapsacks were fashioned of every conceivable 
^hing, and people knitted as they breathed. 

Victory and joy came yet again in July, when Manassas 
was won. Joy alloyed by grief when the bodies of her 
heroes, Bee and Johnson, were brought back to the town, 
and lay in state in the City Hall, at the foot of the great 
white statue of Calhoun, with a mourning people round 
them. 

These were general and colonel, and so entitled to the 
honours of the stately burial accorded them. But 

" Not the chiefs who dying see 
Their flags in front of victory . . . 



496 CHARLESTON 

Claim from their monumental beds 
The bitterest tears a nation sheds." 

Then began that long list of the wounded and dead of 
those splendid privates who made the glory of the Confed- 
eracy. 

The best of Carolina lay dead in their gray jackets, un- 
marked by band or star; but they fell for their country. 
" Grief was pride," and even their mothers said, " It is 
well." 

This is not the story of the Confederate war, or even 
of the defence of Charleston harbour ; the man who 
had a chief share in making that defence possible has 
already written its history so as to win the admiration of 
all military readers. This is only a little record of the 
life of the city, and of how she bore herself under these 
strange conditions. Of how on a beautiful November 
day the people thronged to the water front south and 
west and listened to the booming of far-off guns. 

It was the first defeat, foreseen and inevitable, but never- 
theless defeat. 

Beauregard had warned that the magnificence of Port 
Royal was its weakness ; and now the great ships had 
floated up the entrance on a sea of glass, and the best har- 
bour of the South was lost. From sixty miles away the 
sound came soft but distinct through the hazy autumn air* 

In December of the same eventful year a fire swept the 
town in a great swath from northeast to southwest, as it 
had done when St. Philip's was burned. This time the ex- 
tent laid waste was far greater. It began upon a wharf 
on Cooper River above the market, where negroes en route 
for the up-country were cooking their supper. It was a 
windy night, their fires got away from them, and a hay 
store on the wharf caught. All hope of checking it was 
soon over, for the wind, rising, drove great beams flaming 
through the air, so that the conflagration spread by leaps 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 497 

and bounds. There were no men, the fire department was 
broken up, all were in service or at the camps of prepa- 
ration upon the race-course or in St. Andrew's parish. 
Passing just north of the new St. Philip's, the fire con- 
sumed the Circular Church, just west of it, and burned 
across to the Ashley. By daybreak all was a wilderness 
of smoky ruin. Men rushed down from the race-course, 
General Ripley took command, and by blowing up houses 
at last stopped the devastation. Many important public 
buildings were destroyed: the new Agricultural Hall, 
the largest building in Charleston, the theatre, St. An- 
drew's Hall in Broad Street, the cathedral, St. Peter's 
Church, the large rice mills far out in Ashley River, many 
shops, and many private residences. Two old colonial 
houses often mentioned here, the Pinckney house on 
East Bay and Mrs. Rutledge's on Tradd Street, were among 
those burned. 

Many valuable stores and much public and private 
property were consumed. 

It made it easier for people to take the advice of the 
general then commanding (General Pemberton) and leave 
the city. 

Those who were thus made homeless, and many of the 
families of the officers and men enlisted "for the war," 
removed to what were supposed to be safer places. The 
weary work of " ref ugeeing " began in that spring of 
1862. 

General Lee, who was in Charleston for a short time 
then, answered a gentleman who said that " it was difficult 
for so many men to abandon their business for the war," 
" Believe me, sir, the business of this generation is the 
war." All the talk of "ninety days," or of "one year 
levies," was over now. Comprehension of the magnitude 
and probable duration of the struggle had come. 

Women whose houses had been spared, or whose hus- 

2k 



498 CHARLESTON 

bands or sons were in service on the coast, remained at 
home, and listened with what composure they might to 
the quick, sharp rattle of musketry fire mingling with 
the deeper sound of guns, when, on the 16th of June, the 
enemy, having effected a landing at the same Stono Inlet 
by which Sir Henry Clinton had some eighty years before, 
attacked a small earthwork thrown across the centre of 
James Island, at a place called Secessionville. The Ash- 
ley River between the south front of Charleston and James 
Island is not a mile and a half wide. There were no de- 
fences there. The works upon the island itself were the 
only safeguard, and now these were attacked by General 
Benham, U.S.A., with 7000 men, and were defended by 
Colonel Lamar of South Carolina with 750 men and five 
small guns. Every cannon shot, every rattle of musketry, 
was plainly heard in the city. Four times the Federalists 
charged the works. Hagood with three South Carolina 
Regiments reenforced Lamar, and the enemy withdrew, 
having lost, he said, 685 men ; 204 of ours had fallen. 
This repulse saved the town, but neglect of the "back 
door " had nearly lost it then. 

"When so outnumbered did you not think of retreat?" 
asked a lady of a young officer with a bullet through his 
leg. " Where could we have run to ? " replied the sol- 
dier ; " the bottom of Ashley River would have been the 
only refuge. Had we crossed to the town you would 
have beaten us out with your broomsticks." 

There was a sort of pause in that autumn of 1862. The 
blockading squadron gathered more closely along the 
coast, and the land forces worked quietly at the mouth 
of Stono, which they always held; but there was no 
attack. For a brief interval a curious gayety prevailed, 
when parties of merry girls went down at night to Sum- 
ter, garrisoned by the First South Carolina Regulars 
(Artillery) under Colonel Alfred Rhett, and danced on 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 499 

the parade-ground, charmed with the bright trappings 
and gallant bearing of their young hosts. Beauregard 
came back from the West to the great joy of the citizens, 
bringing with him dashing Creole aides. An entertain- 
ment was even given, feverishly enjoyed and long remem- 
bered as the " Beauregard ball," where every man who 
danced was in uniform, with his " leave " in his pocket — 
and his heart on his sleeve. And maids were kind, — for 
who could tell if ever those men should dance again ; 
were not the battlements of Sumter, the casemates of 
Wagner, awaiting them? 

They did not wait long. In April the ironclads began 
the bombardment of the fort ; in July the land forces on 
Morris Island took it up. How the Federal army and 
navy invested Charleston ; how neither ships, men, nor 
money were spared in the attempt to force old Governor 
Sayle's " Iron Gate " ; and how all failed, is a tale that 
has been often told. Battery Wagner, the defence of 
the northern end of Morris Island, being taken after eight 
weeks of stubborn resistance, the heavy siege guns join- 
ing with those of the fleet bore on the devoted fort. 
Crumbled to pieces after a time ; a mere heap of ruins, 
no longer tenable by artillery men, with every gun dis- 
mounted but held indomitably by Stephen Elliott with his 
riflemen, Sumter rose by the skill and energy of her chief 
engineer, Major Johnson (now Rector of St. Philip's), to 
be a fort again, a fine earthwork mounted with guns. 
Under Elliott, and after him Miles, Mitchell, and Hugue- 
nin, she stood for two years at bay. In those two years 
great deeds of arms were wrought. Ironclad rams hurled 
themselves against men-of-war; torpedo boats assailed 
ironclads. Again and again the fort repelled attacks. 

Blockade runners stole in and out, bringing, at immense 
risk, invaluable supplies and news of the outside world. 

The city never lost heart ; not even when on the 



500 CHARLESTON 

twenty-second of August, at half after one A.M., a 
screaming shell flew over the sleeping town, and burst 
in a yard beyond the Battery. In a moment the town 
awoke ; another and another ! The alarm and horror 
were indescribable, for at first people thought the city 
was taken. The negroes were panic-stricken. 

A young staff officer sleeping in the upper part of the 
town, tired after a long day's service, described himself 
roused by a negro servant, "The General send for you, 
sah!" "What?" "The General send for you, sah ! 
Something da, fly over the house. I run for de stable." 
Most people observed the same prudent policy, for as the 
young man rode down the whole length of the town to 
headquarters, he passed through rows of brilliantly lighted 
houses, but no one was in the streets. Some persons were 
forced to go out. On East Battery a boy, brought home 
from camp, was lying desperately ill. The shells fell 
about the house. An ambulance was sent for, the lad's 
sister got in and took his head on her lap. A gentleman 
rode ahead to seek a refuge. They drove at a foot's pace 
— their way lighted by the bursting bombs, until out of 
range. There a kind friend took them in ; the boy died 
next day. There were cases of women in dire distress. 

It proved that General Gilmore, commanding the Union 
forces, having established a gun (afterward known as the 
" Swamp Angel ") on a point in the marsh between the 
end of Morris and James islands, sent an unsigned note 
addressed to General Beauregard, not to that officer's 
headquarters, but to Battery Wagner, five miles off 
across the bay. 

This note demanded "the immediate evacuation of 
Morris Island and Fort Sumter by the Confederate 
forces. . . . Should you refuse compliance with this 
demand, or should I receive no answer thereto within 
four hours after it is delivered into the hands of your 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 501 

subordinate at Fort Wagner, I shall open fire on the 
city of Charleston, from batteries already established 
within easy and effective range of the heart of the city." 

This letter did not reach town until half after ten that 
night. General Beauregard had not yet returned from 
inspecting some works on one of the islands. His staff 
officer returned it at once for signature. General Gil- 
more opened fire at half after one, and returned his note 
of warning at nine next morning, signed eight hours after 
he had begun shelling. 

It need hardly be said that this proceeding did not ad- 
vance by one hour the progress of the siege or the fall of 
the city. There was at the moment much individual 
suffering. A few unhappy women and new-born infants 
died of it. This was the sole advantage gained by the 
Federal commander. 

There was, in point of fact, but the one gun then "es- 
tablished within easy and effective range of the heart of 
the city," and that burst at the thirty-sixth shot. When 
the great bombardment began, which went on " spasmod- 
ically " from the fall of Battery Wagner until the surren- 
der of the city, February, 1865, people simply moved 
up-town or into the country, and suffered inconvenience 
to which they soon became accustomed. 

By that time hearts were so tempered by trial, so bound 
to " the Cause," that loss of property troubled but little. 
" Fight on, conquer in the end, and never count the cost," 
was the universal cry. 

As long as possible the churches were kept open, but 
the steeples were used as targets, and they were greatly 
damaged. At St. Philip's the rector, Mr. (afterward 
Bishop) Howe, was in the middle of his sermon, when a 
shell passed over the roof and burst in the western 
churchyard. The congregation remained seated until 
the service reached its proper close, and after a peculiarly 



502 



CHARLESTON 



fervent blessing dispersed quietly. The Episcopalians left 
in the town united, after that, for worship in St. Paul's, 







Gateway, St. Michael's Churchyard 



Radcliffeborough, the rectors taking it by turns to offi- 
ciate. Other denominations made similar arrangements. 
Ten shells passed through St. Philip's, its chancel was 
wrecked, its organ demolished ; St. Michael's suffered in 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 503 

the same way, the other churches likewise ; many tomb- 
stones were shattered by falling shells. 

There were wonderfully few casualties ; as in the 
British siege of 1781, the large lots and gardens saved 
many lives. Some few men, who insisted upon living 
among the dilapidated houses, were injured by falling 
buildings, and one old ground-nut cake mauma was 
literally knocked to pieces in the market. 

Officers stationed in the town would amuse themselves 
by going down at night to the Battery to see the burning 
fuses coming across the water. Headquarters were 
moved to Governor Aiken's house, Hampstead, and all 
military offices were above the line of fire. 

Through all this time there was one comfort which 
seldom failed. Generations of kind treatment and wise 
training bore fruit ; the negroes behaved admirably. 
Few, indeed, were the instances where this was not so. 
At first, some — generally mechanics — went off to the 
enemy ; but of house servants and plantation hands by 
far the greater number kept their own way, faithful, 
steady, and kind. A man leaving wife and children, per- 
haps forever, would say to his butler, "Scipio, keep the 
house straight and the boys in order ; help your mistress, 
and don't let the people trouble her." And Scipio, a 
trifle more consequential than usual, assumed the trust. 
To " Mauma" it was not necessary to speak; she guarded 
her charges (including her mistress) with fierce devotion. 
The instances are innumerable. The field-hands worked 
steadily, and made the crops, with a boy of sixteen or 
man of seventy as sole overseer. Servants who went to 
the army with officers behaved most faithfully. Many 
brought home the bodies of their dead masters ; others 
came back with horses whose riders would need them 
no more. All performed prodigies of ingenious cooking 
and catering. Yet when General Sherman passed through 



504 CHARLESTON 

the country, many of these same people abandoned their 
homes, beguiled by the vision of wealth, and wandered 
off, many to die by the roadside of want and hardship. 

Others, however, remained trusted friends and servants, 
faithful and affectionate, to the end of life. 

By 1864 the town presented the most extraordinary 
appearance. The whole life and business of the place 
were crowded into the few squares above Calhoun Street, 
and along the Ashley, where the hospitals and the pris- 
oners were and the shells did not reach. There were 
shops, selling the poorest wares at the most fabulous 
prices ; — had they not been brought at risk of death 
or imprisonment through the blockade ? A tin cup, 
painted red, holding about a gill, cost ten dollars. The 
coarse brown sugar put into it to make a Christmas gift 
for a child — the same. 

People were coming and going ; men to their work, 
women to the hospitals. Almost all the women were in 
mourning, and their strained, anxious eyes belied their 
smiling lips. But by this time to doubt would have been 
treason ; all were cheerful and confident, busy and help- 
ful, doing little kindnesses and sharing every comfort. 
" Come and dine, we have a bit of fresh meat to-day." 
"Your wife is sick? I will send her fc a draw' of tea." 
" We have got some flour and butter from the country, — 
I will make some fresh biscuits for the boys in the Fort." 
" I have not cut up all my curtains yet. I will send one 
for frocks for the baby." No one can tell what those war- 
time babies and their mothers endured. Some were born 
under fire ; some by the roadside ; — it was awfully bibli- 
cal ! Although some died, many survived and are healthy 
men and women to-day. 

At the railroad shops and along the water front there 
was great activity. The men and materials needed for 
the relief of the garrisons and for the constant rebuilding 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. TEE END 505 

of Sumter were being prepared at one place ; boats of 
various devices at another. Experiments were going on 
with torpedoes, with rams, with booms, with defences of 
every description. Great ingenuity was shown in making 
military engines of the most unexpected and hopeless 
materials — old river boats became rams, copper gutters 
were melted up for torpedoes, St. Philip's bells had long 
ago been converted into guns. St. Michael's bells, it 
should have been said, were taken down and sent to 
Columbia for safe keeping. Thus thrown directly into 
General Sherman's way, they shared the destruction of 
that place ; were burned and broken to pieces. The frag- 
ments being afterwards gathered up, they were sent to 
England to the same foundry where they had originally 
been cast. There, with English permanence, the old 
moulds were preserved. They were recast, returned to 
Charleston, and ring to-day the same tone as when they 
pealed for the birthday of his Majesty; having five times 
crossed the Atlantic. 

To pass from this bustling, crowded scene to the lower 
part of the town was like going from life to death. Early 
in December the present writer drove during a short truce 
for the exchange of prisoners from Calhoun Street to the 
Battery, and saw but two human beings : men who crept 
out of yards wondering at the sound of wheels. 

Everything was overgrown with rank, untrimmed vege- 
tation. Not grass merely, but bushes, grew in the streets. 
The gardens looked as if the Sleeping Beauty might be 
within. The houses were indescribable : the gable was 
out of one, the chimneys fallen from the next ; here a roof 
was shattered, there a piazza half gone ; not a window 
remained. The streets looked as if piled with diamonds, 
the glass lay shivered so thick on the ground. 

On the Battery the three great guns gazed seaward, and 
the red-collared artillerymen, who were playing ball to 



506 CHARLESTON 

keep themselves warm, ran up to greet the visitors. The 
forts were silent, but the flags flew defiant. A small 
steamer with a white ensign steamed slowly across the 
harbour. It was a strange scene. 

It was almost the end. 

In less than two months General Hardee, then in com- 
mand, was ordered to evacuate the forts and city and with- 
draw his small force of fourteen thousand men to North 
Carolina, where a last stand might still be made. All 
who could went out ahead of the army — in trains, in 
carriages, in carts — and their flight was in the winter! 

General Sherman, marching from Savannah with seventy 
thousand men, burning as he came, having destroyed all 
but one of the great houses of Ashley River, sent a corps 
to occupy the city. It was surrendered by the municipal 
authorities. They also sent a boat to inform Admiral 
Dahlgren, commanding the fleet, that the forts were 
empty and could now be safely occupied. 

The Federal ironclads then first entered Charleston 
harbour, after a siege of five hundred and sixty-seven days. 

The iron gate had held fast, but the defence was ended. 

Of what that defence was a Charleston woman cannot 
speak. An English officer who saw it all — Colonel 
Henry W. Fielden, of H.B.M. army — said, writing to 
its historian : — 

" Though five and twenty years have elapsed since the 
close of the operations around the city of Charleston, the 
lessons to be derived from their study are as important as 
ever. We find a large commercial city at the commence- 
ment of a great war, defended by nearly obsolete works, 
and with several unguarded approaches, rendered impreg- 
nable in a short time by the skill and genius of the general 
in command, supported by the indomitable valour, devotion, 
and tenacity of its defenders, and by the unflinching spirit 
of all ages and both sexes of the community." 



CONFEDERATE CHARLESTON. THE END 507 

With the fall of the city and of the Confederacy went 
out the old life of Charleston. 

What that life was has already been told. 

If the new is, or shall be, better, purer, braver, or higher, 
it will be well. This is the tale of the old, and it is done. 



INDEX 



Abdallah, race-horse, 260. 

Adams, Henry, "Jefferson's Ad- 
ministration" by, 386-387. 

Agassiz, Louis, 475 ; friend and guest 
of Dr. J. E. Holbrook, 476-479. 

Albemarle, Duke of, a Lord Proprie- 
tor, 1. 

Albemarle Point, first Carolina settle- 
ment at, 3-4 ; settlement trans- 
ferred to Charleston from, 12. 

Allston, Washington, a native Caro- 
linian, 466. 

Alston, John, commands Raccoon 
Riflemen, 233. 

Alston, Colonel William, Washington 
at home of, 354 ; Thomas Jeffer- 
son's letter to, 433-434; life and 
character of, 434-437. 

Alston, Miss (Mrs. Robert Y. Hayne), 
435. 

Alston, Miss (Mrs. William Bull 
Pringle), 437. 

Alston, Mrs. Joseph (Theodosia 
Burr), 420-421. 

Alston, Mrs. William (Mary Motte), 
354, 435. 

Amory, Jonathan, death of, 35. 

Amy, Thomas, early citizen of Caro- 
lina, 16. 

Ancient Battalion of Artillery, 140, 
261. 

Anderson, Major, commandant of 
Fort Sumter, 489-494. 

"Anecdotes," Garden's, references 
to, 238, 246, 250, 260, 326, 377. 

"Annals of York," Moore's, 141. 

Anson, Lord, 172-173. 

Apprentices' Library, the, 466. 

Arbuthnot, Admiral, 263. 

Archdale, Proprietor, 34, 43 ; cited. 
86-87, 92. 



Archdale, place, 88, 190. 

Arms, seizure of, by patriots, 199. 

Ashe, Miss (Mrs. Alston), 435. 

Ashe, Thomas, on Charleston streets, 
15; "View of Carolina" of, 17. 

Ashepoo, Pinckney house at, 261. 

Ashley, Lord (Earl of Shaftesbury), 
a Lord Proprietor, 1 ; "Fundamen- 
tal Constitution" prepared by, 6; 
settlement of Charleston directed 
by, 11-14. 

Ashley, Maurice, 79-80. 

Ashley Hall, 14 ; treaty with Indians 
signed in house at, 141. 

Ashley River, colonists settle at, 3-4. 

Attakullakulla, Indian chief, 140, 
141, 143-144. 



Back country, the, and Lord William 
Campbell, 210-211; Indian out- 
rages in, incited by British, 230. 

Bacot, Peter, postmaster, 471-472. 

Baker, Richard Bohun, 190, 452. 

Baker family, 88. 

Balfour, British officer in Charleston, 
character of, 296 ; Mr. Tom 
Singleton's gibe at, 304; question 
of responsibility of, for execution of 
Colonel Hayne, 317 ; wives and 
families of patriots exiled by, 320 ff . 

Ball, Eleanor (Mrs. H. Laurens), 158. 

Balls, of early nineteenth centurv, 
394-395; held by St. Cecilia 
Society, 427-430." 

Baptists, first church of, 20 ; a nu- 
merous sect in early nineteenth 
century, 403. 

Barbadoes, negroes and planters 
from, in Carolina, 7-8, 16. 

Barker, Captain, killed by Indians, 
63. 



509 



510 



INDEX 



Barnwell, John, in force levied against 
Spanish-French invasion, 50 ; com- 
mands force against Tuscarora 
Indians, 60-61 ; ranking of, as a 
soldier, 88-89 ; builds fort on 
Altamaha River and commands 
southern part of Province, 94-95 ; 
seizes powder from Royal vessel, 
208-209. 

Barnwell, Nathaniel, in expedition 
against St. Augustine, 106. 

Barnwell family, 261. 

Baronies, 6. 

Barry, Major Harry, 297. 

Batavia, place, 168. 

Beale, Othniel, 88, 91-92; daughter 
of, married to Lieutenant-gov- 
ernor Bull, 169. 

Beaufort, laying out of, 61 ; laid 
waste by British, 261. 

Beauregard, General, 490-494, 499, 
500-501. 

Beauregard ball, the, 499. 

Bee, General, killed at Manassas, 
495. 

Bee, Judge, 160, 200, 348. 

Bellinger, John, death of, 41. 

Bells of St. Michael's. See St. 
Michael's bells. 

Belmont, Pinckney homestead, 172 ; 
the country home of the Hol- 
brooks, 476, 477. 

"Bench and Bar of South Carolina," 
O'Neale's, quoted, 151-153, 388. 

Bennett, Governor, 437. 

Berkeley, Sir William, Lord Pro- 
prietor, 1. 

Berresford, Mr., 88. 

Berresford Bounty, 88. 

Biggin Church, 90. 

Blackbeard, pirate, 70-71, 78. 

Blake, Lord Proprietor, 34, 43, 89. 

Blake, Benjamin, arrival of, as set- 
tler, 16. 

Blake, Daniel, 193. 

Blake, Daniel, grandson of Proprie- 
tor, 346. 

Blake, Mrs. Daniel, 170. 

Blake, Joseph, son of Proprietor, 89. 

Blake, Madam ("Lady"), 18-19, 89. 

Blamyer, Lieutenant, 107. 



Bohun, Edmund, death of, 35. 

Bollman, Rev. Mr., Loyalist clergy- 
man, 229, 249. 

Bonnet, Stede, capture and escape 
of, 73-75 ; recapture, trial, and 
execution of, 76-78. 

Books, in early Carolina, 120-123 ; 
of early nineteenth century, 389 ff . 

Boone, early colonist, 16. 

Boone, Mr., agent of dissenters, sent 
to England, 47, 52-53. 

Boone, Governor Thomas, altar plate 
given to St. Michael's by, 155- 
156 ; difficulties during admin- 
istration of, and return to Eng- 
land, 156. 

Boston Port Bill, 175-176. 

Botanic Garden, Watson's, 350, 406; 
Michaux', 351-352. 

Botany, study of, 404. 

Bowen, Bishop, 348. 

Bowman, Miss Lynch, 467. 

Bradford, A. W., altar plate of St. 
Michael's returned by, from New 
York, 155-156. 

Bray, Dr., public library established 
by, 54. 

Bremer, Frederika, guest of Hol- 
brooks, 479. 

Brewton, Frances (Mrs. Charles 
Pinckney), 231. 

Brewton, Miles, house built by, 130 ; 
marriage and home of, 170 ; Josiah 
Quincy's dinner at house of, 180; 
Lord William Campbell at house 
of, 204 ; lost at sea, on way to 
Philadelphia with family, 230-231. 

Brewton, Mrs. Robert, repartee of, 
302, 303, 320 ; sent to Philadelphia 
by British, 320-321. 

Brewton, Rebecca (Mrs. Jacob 
Motte), 191, 231, 276-277, 354. 

Brewton house, British headquarters 
during war, 276. 

Broughton, Thomas, in force levied 
against Spanish-French, 50 ; Mul- 
berry Castle built by, 64-65 ; 
candidacy of, for Governorship, 
59-60 ; commissioned Lieutenant- 
governor, 103-104 ; narrow escape 
of, from British, 312. 



INDEX 



511 



Broughton's Rebellion, 59-60. 

Brown, John, 487. 

Bryan, Hugh, religious fanatic, 112. 

Bryan, Lieutenant, 107. 

Buist, Rev. George, 423. 

Bull, Stephen, early activities of, 
13-14. 

Bull, William, 88 ; succeeds Lieu- 
tenant-governor Broughton, 104 ; 
in Cherokee Indian war, 140 ; 
difficulties in administration of, 
160-162; residences of, 170-171; 
difficult position of, before Revo- 
lution, 191-192, 194-201; Lord 
Campbell relieves, 203 ; retreats 
to plantation, 206 ; begs for life of 
Colonel Hayne, 317. 

Bull, William, nephew of Governor, 
199. * 

Bull, Mrs. John, carried off by 
Indians, 67. 

Bull family, 261. 

Burke, Judge ^Edanus, 327. 

Burr, Theodosia, 420-421. 

Burroughs, Captain, 62. 

Burrows, Mrs., prisoner of Indians, 
67-68. 

Butler, Colonel Pierce, adjutant- 
general, 256. 

Butlers, famous negro, 472-473. 



Calhoun, John C, 417; Monroe's 
Secretary of Stats, 425 ; leader of 
"Nullifyers," 451, 455; death of 
and mourning for, 484-485. 

Calhoun monument, 304. 

Camden, battle of, 286-287. 

Campbell, Colonel Archibald, 255. 

Campbell, Dougal, clerk of court, 161. 

Campbell, Lord William, marries 
Sarah Izard, 166 ; arrives at 
Charleston, 203-204 ; difficulties 
with patriots begin at once, 204- 
205 ; meets an obstinate Commons 
House, 210 ; dealings with the back 
country, 210-211, 214; takes 
refuge on Tamar man-of-war, and 
dismisses Commons House, 215. 

Campbell, "Mad Archy," story of 



wager of, 297-299 ; captures Colo- 
nel Hayne, 315-316; killed in 
skirmish, 329. 

Canoes, construction and use of, 
86-87. 

Cantey, early colonist, 16. 

Cantey, Captain, 50. 

Cantey, General, 461. 

Cantey family, 284. 

Capers, Bishop, evangelist of the 
negroes, 441-442. 

Cardross, Lord, leads colony of Scots, 
26-27 ; difficulties and departure 
of, 27-28. 

Carling, popular sea-captain, 184. 

Carolina, origin of name, 2 ; division 
into North and South, and effect 
on South Carolina, 101. 

Carriages, chaises and coaches, 392 ff . 

Carteret, Sir George, a Lord Proprie- 
tor, 1. 

Castle Pinckney, building of, 374. 

Catholics in Charleston, 402-403. 

Cedar, early exportations of, 7. 

Charleston, description of site of, 
9-10 ; colony settled at, 12 ; plan 
of, 15 ; early colonists of, 15-16 ; 
close relation of country around, 
with, 16 ; first churches of, 17-20 ; 
Huguenot settlers in, 21-23 ; emi- 
grants from Dorchester, Mass., to, 
23-24; schools in, 54, 123-124, 
348, 365, 422 ; Lawson's descrip- 
tion of (1709), 84-85; leading 
citizens of early, 87-90; fires in, 
116, 253-254, 375, 482-485, 496- 
497 ; early social and charitable 
societies in, 119-120; gardens in 
and about, 124-126, 350-352; 
first theatres in, 128; racing about, 
129-130 ; havoc in ; of hurricane of 
1752, 133-134; Dr. Milligan's 
description of, 136-137 ; strict divi- 
sion of, into St. Michael's and St. 
Philip's parishes, 157; proceedings 
in, on passing of Stamp Act, 158 ff . ; 
Josiah Quincy's views of, 179-182 ; 
question of tea in, before Revolu- 
tion, 184-189 ; reception of Decla- 
ration of Independence in, 252; 
British besiege and capture, 263- 



512 



INDEX 



274; conditions in, during British 
occupation, 275-312 ; British evac- 
uate, 332-336 ; condition of, after 
British occupation, 337-343 ; no 
longer the capital, 344 ; education 
in, 346-348 (see Schools) ; the city 
in 1790, 350-352 ; political parties 
develop in, 378-381 ; in early 
nineteenth century, 380-415 ; effect 
on, of War of 1812, 417-419; 
Nullification agitation in, 450-455 ; 
from 1830 to 1860, 458-485; 
during Confederate war, 486-507. 

Charleston College, founding of, 
346-348. 

Charleston Courier, replaces Gazette, 
102. 

Charleston (Charles Town) Library, 
establishment of, 120-123; de- 
stroyed by fire during Revolution, 
254; at time of Josiah Quincy's 
visit, 179; the present, 421-422. 

Charles Town, first settlement named, 
4; transference of name to new 
location, 12 ; the name, changed 
to "Charleston," 342. 

Charter, Carolina's, as County Pala- 
tine, 5-6. 

Chastelleux, M. de, quoted, 378. 

Cherokee Indian war (1756), 138-145. 

Cheves, Langdon, 401, 417, 486. 

Chicken, Captain, 63. 

Choiseul, Count de, French consul 
at Charleston, 456. 

Church, the first, 17-20 ; in jurisdic- 
tion of Bishop of London, 108 ; 
disestablishment of, 345. 

Church Acts, 42-49. 

Churches, Governor Nicholson's at- 
tention to, 94-95 ; affairs of, 
during Revolution, 300; condition 
of, in earlier part of nineteenth 
century, 401-403. 

" Church History, "Dalcho's, 351, 190. 

Cincinnati, Society of the, history of, 
358-364; efforts of, to abolish 
duelling, 410-414 ; offer of mem- 
bers of, for service in War of 1812, 
419. 

Circular Church, the, 423 ; burning 
of, 497. 



Cisterns, water from, 131. 

City Hall, building of, 421. 

Clarendon, Lord, 1. 

Clark, Rev. Mr., 123. 

Clay, Henry, compromise measures 
of, 455. 

Clergymen, Loyalist and patriot, 300. 

Clifton plantation, 354. 

Clinton, Sir Henry, siege and capture 
of Charleston by, 263-274 ; makes 
his headquarters at Mrs. Motte's 
(Miles Brewton's) house, 276. 

Club, a famous ante-bellum literary, 
474-475. 

Coaches in Carolina, 392-394. 

College of South Carolina, 387-388. 

Colleton, James, Landgrave and 
Governor, 29-32, 89. 

Colleton, Hon. John, 89-90. 

Colleton, Major, 107. 

Colleton, Sir John, a Lord Proprie- 
tor, 1. 

Colleton, Sir Peter, 7. 

Colleton family, 89. 

Columbia, city of, founded and 
capital established at, 344. 

Coming, Affra, 10-11, 35, 158; St. 
Philip's endowed by, 19-20, 345. 

Coming, John, 10-11. 

Coming- tee plantation, 158. 

Committee of Observation, 188-189. 

Committee of Safety, appointment 
of (1775), 203 ; in charge of affairs, 
207. 

Concerts, St. Cecilia, 179, 180, 385, 
426-430. 

Congress, the Provincial, dealings 
with Lord William Campbell, 204- 
205 ; adjourns, leaving Committee 
of Safety in charge, 207 ; convenes 
and chooses W. H. Drayton 
President, 217 ; chooses a Presi- 
dent, Vice-president, and other 
officers, and delegates to Conti- 
nental Congress, 225-228. 

Conner, H. W., account of La Fayette 
reception by, 445-449. 

Conseilliere, M. de la, 65. 

Continental Congress, South Caro- 
lina's delegates to, 185, 193-194, 
228. 



INDEX 



513 



Cooper, Sir A. A., 1. 

Cooper, Loyalist clergyman, 249-250. 

Cooper River, Huguenot settlers on, 
22. 

Corbett, ex-schoolmaster returned 
to England, 124, 149. 

Cordes, Miss (Mrs. Samuel Prioleau), 
290. 

"Corner," the, 163. 

Corner Club, the, 163. 

Corner Tavern, the, 375. 

Cornwallis, deportation of patriots 
on parole to St. Augustine by, 
288-291 ; surrender of, 325 ; Henry 
Laurens exchanged for, 332. 

Cossack Club meetings, 380-381. 

Cotton, development of growth of, 
343-344. 

County Palatine, Carolina as a, 5-6. 

Crafts, William, 401. 

Craven, Lord, Lord Proprietor, 1. 

Craven, Edward, appointed Gov- 
ernor, 60; leads militia against 
Indians, 63 ; measures taken by, 
during Yemassee war, 65-66 ; 
returns to England, 68. 

Cripps, Mrs. (Mrs. Gillon), 167-168. 

Crowfield plantation, 16, 125, 393. 

Cruden, John, commissioner of se- 
questration, 292, 300, 323. 

Culpepper, surveyor-general, 13. 



D 



Dalcho, Dr., references to, 35, 109. 

Dale, Thomas, death of, 41. 

Dances, 394-395. 

Daniel, Robert, arrival of, at Charles- 
ton, 16 ; in expedition against St. 
Augustine, 39-40; history of 
mural tablet to, 484. 

Daty, Mademoiselle de, 365. 

Davis, Captain, 114. 

Deas, William Allen, 411. 

DeBrahm, surveyor-general, 136, 165. 

Defence of Charleston harbour, 496 ; 
importance of military lessons to 
be derived from, 506. 

De Grasse, Admiral, tomb of daugh- 
ters of, 403. 

De Kalb, Baron, visits Charleston 
2 L 



with La Fayette, 254; killed at 
Camden, 287; La Fayette lays 
corner-stone of monument to, 442. 

De la Conseilliere, Benjamin, re- 
ceiver-general, 95. 

De la Conseilliere family, 88. 

Delancey, Miss (Mrs. Ralph Izard), 
310. 

Delancey-Haley duel, 182-183, 412. 

De Saussure, Daniel, 323, 348, 387- 
388, 401. 

De Saussure, Mrs. Daniel, 323. 

De Saussure, Henry W., 411. 

De Saussure, Lieutenant, 107. 

Dishes, historic scenes on, 364. 

Dissenters, arrival of five hundred, 
as settlers, 15-16 ; troubles of, 
under Sir Nathaniel Johnson, 42 ff . 

Domiciliary visits, British, 308-312. 

Dorchester, Massachusetts colony at, 
23-24, 253. 

Douglas, John, schoolmaster, 54. 

D'Oyley, Daniel, 160. 

Drayton, Dr. Charles, at school in 
England, 148; marriage of, 168. 

Drayton, John, Governor, 187-188, 
387. 

Drayton, Maria, scientific botanist, 
390. 

Drayton, Mrs., garden of, 124. 

Drayton, Thomas, arrival of, at 
Charleston, 16. 

Drayton, William, 401 ; commandant 
at Fort Moultrie during War of 
1812, 418; career of, 419-420; a 
Union State Rights man, 451 ; re- 
moves to Philadelphia, 458. 

Drayton, William Henry, at school 
in England, 148 ; marriage of, 168 ; 
in England before Revolution, 190 ; 
appears as patriot, 190 ; chairman 
of Secret Committee, 197 ; chosen 
President of Provincial Congress, 
217; commands schooner Defence 
against British, 218-219 ; further 
activities of, 219-220; made chief 
justice, 226. 

Drayton family, 88. 

Drayton Hall; 88; Cornwallis' head- 
quarters at, 277; Due de Lian- 
court at, 382. 



514 



INDEX 



Duelling, question of, 410-415 ; argu- 
ments in favour of, 414. 



E 



East Battery, demolished by hurri- 
cane, 406. 

Edisto, massacre at, 28-29. 

Education, of negroes, 113-116; of 
white children, 123. See Schools. 

El Dorado plantation house, 231, 
390. 

Eliza Lee's, inn called, 460. 

Ellington, Rev. Mr., Loyalist clergy- 
man, 298-299. 

Elliott, Barnard, 192 ; reads Declara- 
tion of Independence to Charles- 
tonians, 252 ; captain of Artillery 
Battalion, 246. 

Elliott, Mrs. Barnard, 246. 

Elliott, Benjamin, 342. 

Elliott, Commodore, 454, 455, 456. 

Elliott, Miss (Mrs. William Wash- 
ington), 265. 

Elliott, Mrs. Charles, 302. 

Elliott, Mrs. Sabina, 309. 

Elliott, Stephen, "Botany of South 
Carolina" by, 404 ; in Confederate 
war, 499. 

Elliott, William, 20. 

Elms, the, Izard place, 182, 378, 382. 

Ely, receiver-general, death of, 35. 

England, education of young men in, 
146, 148-154. 

England, Bishop, 445. 

Evans, Captain, 51. 



Factors, office of, 404-405. 
Fairlawn Barony, 89-90 ; outrage at, 

by British soldiers, 310. 
Fayolle, M., dancing-master, 366, 

456. 
F6boure, Admiral de,* invasion of, 

51-52. 
Fenwicke, Captain, 52. 
Fenwicke, Miss (Mrs. John Stuart), 

172. 
Fenwicke, Mr., furnishings given to 

St. Michael's by, 155. 



Fenwicke family, 88. 

Fielden, Colonel H. W., on defence 
of Charleston harbour, 506. 

Fire, of 1740, in Charleston, 116; 
of 1798, 375 ; St. Philip's destroyed 
by, 482-484; of 1861, 496-497. 

Fires, incendiary, at time of Revolu- 
tion, 253-254. 

Fire signals from St. Michael 's steeple, 
235-236. 

Fisher, J. Francis, MS. narrative of, 
459 ; marries younger daughter 
of Henry Middleton, 463 ; quoted 
concerning the Holbrooks, 479. 

Fletchall, back countryman, 214. 

Flimnap, racing horse, 182, 260. 

Flimnap, Isaac McPherson's horse, 
328. 

Flood of 1699, 35-36. 

Forster, Rev. Mr., Unitarian clergy- 
man, 424. 

Fort Mechanic, building of, 374. 

Fort Moultrie, building of, 223. 233, 
234-235; battle of, 241-248. 

Fort Sumter, bombardment of, 489- 
494. 

Fraser, Charles, "Reminiscences" of, 
referred to, 358, 365, 375, 380- 
381, 395, 401, 466, 467; written 
to be read before famous literary 
club, 474. 

Fraser, John, Scotch trader, 61-62. 

Fraser, Major, brutality of, 309, 311. 

Freer, Mr., humane Loyalist, 295. 

French Church, Huguenots', 20, 21. 

Friendly Society, 120. 

Friends' Meeting House, 20. 

"Friends of Washington," 379. 

Frost, Rev. Thomas, rector of St. 
Philip's, 402, 484. 

Fundamental Constitution, Locke's, 
6-7 ; clause of, relating to Church, 
43. 

Funerals, colours worn at ante- 
Revolutionary, 194. 

Furman, Richard, 411. 

Furs, early trade in, 16-17. 



G 



Gadsden, Christopher, in Cherokee In- 



INDEX 



515 



dian war, 140 ; harangues mechan- 
ics on Stamp Act, 158; delegate 
to Congress in New York, 161 ; ad- 
dresses of, to mechanics, 163 ; con- 
tests with and esteem for Rawlins 
Lowndes, 178; delegate to Con- 
tinental Congress, 185-187 ; chosen 
member of General Committee, 
189 ; made colonel of 1st Regi- 
ment, 207; circulates Paine 's 
"Common Sense," 224-225; an 
exception as a republican, 251 ; 
Lieutenant-governor, 255 ; de- 
ported to St. Augustine, 288 ; elects 
to occupy a dungeon at St. Augus- 
tine, 289-290 ; death and unmarked 
grave of, 400. 

Gadsden, ReV. Mr., rector of St. 
Philip's, 484. 

Garden, Rev. Alexander, commis- 
sary of Bishop of London in South 
Carolina, 109 ; and George Whit- 
field, 109-112; method followed 
by, in educating negroes, 114. 

Garden, Alexander, physician and 
botanist, 125-126, 404; a Loyalist 
during Revolutionary War, 250. 

Garden, Major, son of Dr. Garden, 
"Anecdotes" of, quoted, 238, 246, 
250, 260-261, 326, 377 ; connection 
of, with Society of the Cincinnati, 
362, 413-414. 

"Gardeners' Chronicle," the, 124. 

Gardenia, Linnseus names, for Dr. 
Alexander Garden, 126. 

Gardens, in provincial period, 86 ; 
growth of landscape, 124-126 ; 
in 1790, 350-352. 

Gates, Mrs., daughter of Thomas 
Singleton, 304. 

Gazette, establishment of, 102 ; quoted 
concerning reception of Governor 
Glenn, 117-119; on delegates to 
Continental Congress, 193-194. 

Genet, Citizen, in Charleston, 367. 

George III., celebration of accession 
of, 154. 

Georgia, effect of establishment of, 
on territory of South Carolina, 
101 ; aid given to, by South Caro- 
lina, 101-102 ; takes lead in 



development of cotton industry, 
344. 

Ghost stories, 169-170, 319, 408-409. 

Gibbes, Governor, 88. 

Gibbes, John, letter to, 348-350. 

Gibbes, Robert, acting Governor, 
59-60. 

Gibbes, William, member of Secret 
Committee, 197. 

Gibbes, Mrs. S., letter of, quoted, 
349-350. 

Gibbs, John, early citizen of Caro- 
lina, 16. 

Gillon, Commodore, 166-168, 190, 
356. 

Gilman, Rev. Samuel, 424. 

Gilman, Mrs., writer, 425. 

Gilmore, General, bombards Charles- 
ton, 500-501. 

Glebe House, the, 19, 20. 

Glenn, James, Governor, 104 ; arri- 
val of, in Charleston, 117-119; on 
increasing luxury of Carolina, 126- 
127 ; departure of, from Charles- 
ton, 137. 

Godfrey, Captain, 30. 

Golightly, Miss (Mrs. Charles Dray- 
ton), 168. 

Golightly, Polly (Mrs. Benjamin 
Huger), 168. 

Goose Creek, first settlement on, 8. 

Goose Creek Church, 58 ; rector and 
congregation of, during Revolution, 
299-300. 

Governor's Mansion, the, 172. 

Grant, Colonel, in Cherokee war, 141. 

Granville, Lord, and Church Acts in 
Carolina, 42-43, 47. 

Green, lawyer, 110. 

Grimball, early colonist, 16. 

Grimball, Paul, 28-29. 

Grimball, Major Thomas, commands 
Artillery Battalion with distinc- 
tion, 261. 

Grimke, Judge, 148. 



Haig, Mrs., 114. 

Haley, Dr., duel between Delancey 
and, 182-183. 



516 



INDEX 



Hall, Basil, in Charleston, 352. 

Hamilton, Alexander, second Presi- 
dent-general of Society of the Cin- 
cinnati, 362 ; effect on duelling of 
death of, 410. 

Hamilton, Colonel James, 437, 451. 

Hamilton, Capt. John Randolph, 491. 

Hammond, Le Roy, 226. 

Hampton, Colonel Wade, 391. 

Harleston family, 88. 

Hayne, Colonel Isaac, story of, 314- 
319. 

Hayne, Robert Y., 401 ; marriage to 
Miss Alston, 435 ; letter of, to 
C. C. Pinckney, Jr., 440 ; position 
during Nullification agitation, 451, 
453. 

Hewat, historian, quoted, 32-33, 
95, 131, 246. 

Heyward, Daniel, 343. 

Heyward, Thomas, 148 ; letter from, 
when a student in England, 175 ; 
in the Haley defence, 183 ; elected 
to Continental Congress, 228 ; 
captain in Artillery Battalion, 261 ; 
deported to St. Augustine, 288 ; 
trustee of Charleston College, 348. 

Heyward, Mrs. Thomas, insulted by 
British, 278. 

Heyward family, 261. 

"History of the Turf in Carolina," 
Dr. Irving's, 129, 391. 

Holbrook, Dr. and Mrs. John Ed- 
wards, 475-479. 

Holland, Mrs., character and salons 
of, 480-482. 

Holmes, Isaac, Lieutenant-governor, 
355; a successful lawyer, 401. 

Hopton, Mrs., garden of, 124. 

Horry, Daniel, 233. 

Horry, Mrs., on conditions just before 
the Revolutionary War, 221-222; 
Washington at the home of, 355 ; 
coach ordered from England by, 
392; La Fayette visits, 445. 

Horry, General Peter, 384. 

Horry, Thomas, wounded during 
siege of Charleston, 265. 

Horse-racing, 129-130, 182, 385-386, 
391-392, 461. 

Horse Shoe, Lowndes house at, 261. 



Hotels (inns, taverns, and boarding- 
houses), 459-461. 

Howe, Rev. Mr., rector of St. Philip's, 
501. 

Huger, Alfred, 469, 471-472. 

Huger, Benjamin, marries "Polly" 
Golightly, 168 ; takes part in 
powder-seizing exploit, 199 ; ac- 
companies La Fayette and De 
Kalb to Charleston, 254 ; marriage 
to Miss Kinloch, 254. 

Huger, Daniel, quoted, 23. 

Huger, Daniel Elliott, 401, 419-420. 

Huger, Emma (Mrs. Joseph Allen 
Smith), 469. 

Huger, Francis Kinloch, 254; at- 
tempts rescue of La Faj r ette, 368 ; 
and La Fayette in 1825, 443. 

Huger, Mrs. Francis Kinloch, 390. 

Huger, Isaac, in Cherokee war, 144; 
lieutenant-colonel of 1st Regi- 
ment, 208 ; Tarleton destroys a 
force commanded by, 269. 

Huger, John, Intendant, 375 ; takes 
tea on sidewalk, 383-384; a 
Union State Rights man, 451 ; in- 
cident in Congress, 468-469. 

Huger, Major Isaac, shot by mistake, 
early in war, 259-260. 

Huger, William E., house of, 170. 

Hughes, Henry, early settler, 10. 

Huguenots, coming of, and church 
built by, 20; numbers of, 21-22; 
rank and character of, 22-23 ; rise 
of feeling against, 32; liberty of 
conscience granted to, 34 ; bear- 
ing of Church Acts on, 44-46 ; 
unite with Church of England, 49 ; 
church congregation of, reduced by 
time, 403. 

Hurricane, of 1699, 35-36 ; of 1752, 
133-134; of 1804, 406. 

Hutson, Rev. Mr., 123. 

Hutson, Miss (Mrs. Arthur Peron- 
neau), 317, 319. 

Hyrne, Major, 50, 65 ; in Cherokee 
Indian war, 140. 






Indians, trade of original settlers 



INDEX 



517 



with, 16-17; Mfoore's expedition 
against Appalachian, 40-41 ; John 
Barnwell's expedition against Tus- 
carora, 60-61 ; war with Yemassee, 
61-68; war with Cherokee (1756), 
138-145 ; incited to outrages in 
back country by British, 230. 

Inns in late thirties, 459-461. 

Insurance company, first, 120. 

I 'on, Colonel Jacob Bond, 425. 

Ioor, name of, 23-24. 

Ioor, Captain Joseph, 253. 

Ironclad defences, invention and 
first employment of, 491. 

Irvine, Commodore, 410. 

Irving, Dr. John, race chronicler, 
129, 391. 

Izard, early colonist, 16. 

Izard, Becky (Mrs. Colin Campbell), 
182. 

Izard, Mrs. Henry, at dinner given 
for Washington, 356-357; butler 
"Jack" belonging to, 472-473. 

Izard, Miss (Mrs. Miles Brewton), 
170, 204, 230-231. 

Izard, Polly (Mrs. Arthur Middle- 
ton), 166, 204, 376. 

Izard, Ralph (of seventeenth cen- 
tury) , 20 ; introduces bill relative 
to religious worship, 47. 

Izard, Ralph, 88, 148. 

Izard, Ralph, marriage to Miss 
Delancey, 182; a patriot, 204; 
story of wrong response in church, 
299-300 ; adventure of, with Brit- 
ish raiders, 310; M. de Chas- 
telleux quoted concerning, 378. 

Izard, Ralph, Jr., 148; on Clinton's 
conduct before Charleston, 247. 

Izard, Sarah (Lady Campbell), 166, 
203-204. 

Izard, Walter, 148, 204. 

Izard family, 191. 

Izard hatchment, Goose Creek Church, 
58, 300. 



Jacksonboro Legislature, 325-328. 
Jacobin Clubs, 367. 
Jamison, Mr., president of Secession 
Convention, 487. 



Jasper, Sergeant, hero of Fort Moul- 
trie, 243-244, 247. 

Jefferson, Joseph, mother of, a St. 
Domingo refugee, 366. 

"Jefferson's Administration," Ad- 
ams', 386-387. 

John Adams frigate, 374-375. 

Johnson, Captain, 50. 

Johnson, Colonel, killed at Manassas, 
495. 

Johnson, Rev. Gideon, 57-58. 

Johnson, Major (now rector of St. 
Philip's), 499. 

Johnson, Robert, Governor, 70, 87 ; 
conquest of pirates by, 71-77 ; 
deposed by people as the represen- 
tative of Lords Proprietors, 82; 
appointed first Royal Governor, 
101 ; death of, 103 ; bequests of, 
128. 

Johnson, Sir Nathaniel, 37, 40 ; ap- 
pointed Governor, 42 ; religious 
difficulties during government of, 
42-49; defends Carolina against 
Spanish-French attack, 49-52; re- 
moval of, 53. 

Johnson, author of "Traditions of the 
American Revolution," cited, 159, 
163, 183, 248. 

Jones's, inn known as, 459. 

Joyner, Captain, 208. 



K 



Kennedy, James, 411. 

Kershaw, Joseph, 226. 

King, Judge, 469, 473-474. 

King Hagler, Indian chief, 141-143. 

Kinloch, Francis, 258. 

Kinloch, Miss (Mrs. Benjamin Hu- 

ger), 254. 
Kinloch family, 88. 
Kinlochs, British and American, 295. 
Kirkland, Moses, back countryman, 

214-215. 



Ladies' Benevolent Society, 418-419. 
Ladson, early colonist, 16. 
Ladson, Eliza (Mrs. Webb), 397-398. 



518 



INDEX 



Ladson, James, 175. 

La Fayette, Marquis de, first visits 
Charleston, 254; agitation over, 
during French Revolution, 367- 
373 ; visit of, in 1825, 442-449. 

Lamboll, Mrs., garden of, 124. 

Landgraves, 6. 

Landscape gardens, 124-125. 

Lasteyrie, Conte Ferdinand de, 449. 

Laurens, Henry, 94; in Cherokee 
war, 144; mob's visit to, in search 
of stamps, 158-159 ; chairman of 
General Committee, 188, 199 ; in 
England before Revolution, 193 ; 
elected President of Provincial 
Congress, 202 ; chairman of Com- 
mittee of Safety, 207 ; made Vice- 
president of South Carolina, 226- 
227 ; weeps on hearing Declaration 
of Independence, 250 ; President 
of Continental Congress, 253 ; pub- 
lic activities of, during Revolution, 
331-332 ; death and cremation of, 
332 ; attitude toward duelling, 413. 

Laurens, John, letter home from 
London, after battle of Fort 
Moultrie, 247; on Washington's 
staff, 253 1 life saved by Thomas 
Shubrick, 261-262; British at- 
tempts to corrupt, 294 ; killed in a 
skirmish, 330; public career of, 
summed up, 331. 

Law, emoluments of practice of, 401. 

Laws, codification and printing of, 
102-103. 

Lawson, John, cited, 54 ; description 
of Charleston by, 84-85. 

Lee, Charles, commands at Charleston, 
232, 237; dealings with Moultrie, 
238-246 ; duel between John Lau- 
rens and, 331. 

Lee, Colonel Henry, quoted concern- 
ing execution of Colonel Hayne, 
318 ; pays tribute to Marion, 376- 
377. 

Lee, Sir Harry, 193. 

Legar6, Hugh S., 401, 469-471, 475. 

Leigh, bailiff of Westminster, father 
of Egerton Leigh, 146-147, 161. 

Leigh, Egerton, attorney-general, 160, 
161, 193. 



Le Jau, Lieutenant, 107. 

Le Jau, Rev. Mr., negroes converted 
by, 114. 

L 'Enfant, Major, designs badge of 
the Cincinnati, 360. 

Le Noble family, 88. 

Liancourt, Due de, observations of, 
346, 366, 379-380, 382-383, 390, 
401. 

Libraries, private, in early nineteenth 
century, 389-391. 

Library, first public (the Provincial), 
54-55; establishment of Charles 
Town, 120-123; destroyed by 
fire, during Revolution, 254 ; at 
time of Josiah Quincy's visit, 179 ; 
the present, 421-422. 

Library Society, address of, to 
Governor Lyttleton, 140-141. 

Lieutenant-governor, creation of office 
of, 103-104. 

Lightwood, Mr., saves St. Michael's 
plate, 333. 

Lincoln, General Benjamin, in com- 
mand in South, 255 ; shows meagre 
ability, 255-256 ; misses capturing 
PreVost's force, 258-259 ; com- 
mands Charleston during siege by 
British, 262-274. 

Lind, Jenny, visits Charleston, 419, 
468. 

Linnaeus, Dr. Garden a friend of, 125- 
126. 

Lloyd, stamp distributer, 160. 

Locke, John, "Fundamental Con- 
stitution" of, 6-7. 

Logan, Captain (afterward Governor), 
50. 

Logan, Mrs., "Gardeners' Chronicle" 
of, 124. 

Logan family, 88. 

Longbois, Captain, 50. 

Lords Proprietors, persons compos- 
ing(1769), 1 ; rise of feeling against, 
79-80; people rebel against, and 
depose Governor, 81-82 ; King 
takes over Province from, 82. 

Lowndes ; James, 411. 

Lowndes, Rawlins, appointed asso- 
ciate justice by Governor Bull, 
160 ; offers resolution for statue 



INDEX 



519 



of Pitt, 162 ; chosen Speaker of 
Commons, 178 ; sketch of career of, 
178; opposes W. H. Drayton's 
too aggressive Revolutionary meas- 
ures, 220 ; offers resolution of 
thanks to Drayton as President of 
Provincial Congress, 221 ; holds 
governorship for one year during 
Revolution, 255; death of, 400. 

Lowndes, William, 417 ; posts abroad 
offered to, 425. 

Lowndes, Mrs. William, books of, 
390-391. 

Lucas, Miss. See Pinckney, Mrs. 

Ludwell, Governor, 32, 34. 

Lynch, Thomas, educated in Eng- 
land, 148, 149 ; delegate to Con- 
gress held in New York, 161 ; dele- 
gate to Continental Congress, 185- 
187 ; chosen member of General 
Committee, 189 ; stricken with 
paralysis, 228; lost at sea, 295- 
296. 

Lynch, Thomas, Jr., succeeds his 
father in Continental Congress, 
228. 

Lyttleton, Governor, administration 
of, 137-141. 



M 



Macbride, Dr., botanist, 404. 
McCrady, Edward, cited, 185, 191, 

252, 259, 300, 323. 
McDonald, Captain, 1st Regiment, 

214. 
McDonald, Sergeant, hero killed at 

Fort Moultrie, 245. 
Mcllraith, Major, duelling affair of, 

with Marion, 412. 
Mcintosh, Colonel, 257. 
Mackay, Captain, 63. 
McKenzie brothers, British officers, 

294-295. 
McPherson, Isaac, story of horse of, 

328. 
McPherson, James, Indian fighter, 

67. 
Magnolia, 88, 124; gardens at, 352. 
Malmedy, Colonel, 270. 
Manassas, battle of, 495. 



Manigault, Gabriel, 94, 99 ; pro- 
prietor of Silk Hope plantation, 
221 ; helps to defend Charleston 
against PreYost, 256. 

Manigault, Gabriel (son of Peter), 
buildings designed by, 422. 

Manigault, Joseph, trustee of Charles- 
ton College, 348. 

Manigault, Peter, 94, 160, 161; re- 
signs speakership, 177 ; death of, 178. 

Manigault, Mrs., cited, 128-129. 

Manning, Governor, 443. 

Mansion House, the, 460. 

Marion, Francis, in Cherokee Indian 
war, 144 ; home of, at Chachan, 
191 ; major of 2d Regiment, 207 ; 
sketch of career of, 207-208; ab- 
sent from siege of Charleston, 284 ; 
story of fall from window, 286 ; 
commissioned colonel by Governor, 
286 ; poor reception by Gates, 287 ; 
scene of activities of, 287 ; par- 
tisan warfare waged by, 305-312; 
battles participated in by, 320; 
slight of, on American reentrance 
to Charleston, 335 ; favours clem- 
ency toward Loyalists, 341 ; a 
member of the Cincinnati, 360 
death of and tribute to, 376-377 
Weems' so-called "Life" of, 384 
duelling affair with Major Mcll- 
raith, 412. 

Marion's Men, 191, 287, 306-312, 
320 ; neglect of, 335. 

Marriages, ante-Revolutionary, 165 ff. 
169. 

Marshall, Rev. Mr., rector of St. 
Philip's, death of, 35, 46. 

Marston, Rev. Mr., opposes Church 
Acts, 45-46 ; removal of, 48-49 ; 
attack by, on Rev. Mr. Thomas, 
56-57. 

Mathews, John, made Governor, 328 ; 
trustee of Charleston College, 348. 

Mathews, Maurice, 18. 

Maury, Commodore, 475. 

Maxwell, Lieutenant, 107. 

Mayrant, John, story of, 253. 

Mazyck, Isaac, Huguenot immigrant, 
20; career of, 92-93. 

Mazyck, Isaac, Jr., 93, 173. 



520 



INDEX 



Mazyck Record, the, 92, 93. 

Medicine, study of, 404 ; School for, 
422. 

Meeting Street, naming of, 20. 

Merchant-planters of early Carolina, 
91-93. 

Merchants, passing of the native, 
386-387. 

Mexican War, 484. 

Michaux, French gardener in Charles- 
ton, 351-352. 

Middleton, Arthur, arrival of, at 
Charleston, 16 ; envoy to Vir- 
ginia at time of Indian war, 66. 

Middleton, Arthur (second of name), 
87-88 ; President of Council in 
Governor Nicholson's absence, 100- 
101 ; resents printing of laws, 103 ; 
death of, 107. 

Middleton, Arthur, son of Henry, 
148, 166, 190; member of Secret 
Committee, 197 ; succeeds his 
father in Continental Congress, 228; 
view of Constitution of, 251 ; exiled 
to St. Augustine, 295 ; death of, 
376. 

Middleton, Edward, lands held by, 
16. 

Middleton, Eliza (Mrs. J. Francis 
Fisher), 460, 462-463. 

Middleton, Frances (Mrs. Hayes), 
472. 

Middleton, Henry, son of second 
Arthur, 107, 127; garden of, 124; 
gives Middleton Place to son 
Arthur, 166 ; position of, before 
Revolution, 190 ; delegate to 
Continental Congress, 185, 193- 
194 ; death of, 376. 

Middleton, Mrs. Henry (Lady Mary 
MacKenzie), 190; death of, 376; 
coach owned by, 392. 

Middleton, Henry, mentioned as 
scientific botanist, 404; a Union 
State Rights man, 451 ; member of 
Congress, Governor, and Minister 
to Russia, 461 ; daughters of, 
462-463; brother of, 463. 

Middleton, John Izard, artist, trav- 
eller, and first American archae- 
ologist, 463-464. 



Middleton, Miss (Mrs. C. C. Pinck- 
ney), 172. 

Middleton, Maria (Mrs. Edward 
Pringle), 462. 

Middleton, Sarah, will of, 127-128. 

Middleton, Thomas, colonel in Chero- 
kee campaign, 144-145. 

Middleton, William, arrival of, at 
Charleston, 16. 

Middleton family, 190-191. 

Middleton Place, 107, 124, 166; 
Revolutionary gatherings at, 190 ; 
British at, 265; De Kalb's 
breastplate preserved at, 287 ; 
camellias on terrace at, 352 ; 
collection of books at, 389. 

MilHgan, Dr., quoted, 131 ; descrip- 
tion of Charleston by, 136-137. 

Mob, stamps searched for by, 158- 
159. 

Monroe, President, visit of, 425-426. 

Montagu, Lord Charles Greville, 
Governor, 130, 164 ; difficulties of, 
with Commons House, 176-179 ; 
resignation of, 179 ; in America 
during war, 293. 

Montaigne, "the Planter's Bible," 
389-390. 

Montgomery, Colonel, in Cherokee 
war, 141. 

Moore, early colonist, 16. 

Moore, James, Governor, 11 ; charac- 
ter and career of, 37-39 ; dies of 
yellow fever, 50. 

Moore, James, son of Governor, com- 
mander of force against Tuscarora 
Indians, 61 ; named Governor by 
the people for the King, 82 ; quali- 
ties of, 87; death of, 107. 

Moore, Lady, 114. 

Moore, Maurice, 66 ; terror of the 
Indians for, 67 ; "Annals of York" 
by, 141. 

Morean, Rev. Mr., 300. 

Morris, Mr., 114. 

Morse, S. F. B., in Charleston, 432. 

Morton, Joseph, Landgrave and 
Governor, 26, 114; difficulties 
with Scots, 27-28; bequest of 
books by, 120. 

Mosely, Mr., librarian, 55. 



INDEX 



521 



Motte, Captain Charles, at defence of 
Fort Moultrie, 242-243; killed in 
battle, later in war, 262. 

Motte, Isaac, 191 ; lieutenant-colonel 
of 2d Regiment, 207 ; at defence 
of Fort Moultrie, 243-244. 

Motte, Jacob, 191 ; contribution of, 
to furnishings of St. Michael's, 
155 ; residence of, 172. 

Motte, John Abram, 99. 

Motte, Mary (Mrs. William Alston), 
354, 435. 

Motte, Mrs. Rebecca, 191, 234, 354; 
house of, occupied by British com- 
manders, 276-277. 

Moultrie, Alexander, brother of 
General, 288. 

Moultrie, John, in Cherokee Indian 
war, 144. 

Moultrie, William, in Cherokee Indian 
war, 140, 144 ; descent and con- 
nections of, 191 ; present at pow- 
der-seizing exploit, 199 ; quoted, 
197, 202-203, 207, 227, 264, 319- 
320, 341; made colonel of 2d 
Regiment, 207 ; in command of 
Fort Moultrie, 233-240; wins 
battle, 241-246 ; opposes PreVost's 
advance, 256 ; activities of, during 
PreVost's raid, 257-258, 261; ac- 
count of conditions in Charleston 
during siege, 270-271 ; in charge of 
surrender of arms at capitulation, 
274 ; letter to Cornwallis protest- 
ing against his treatment of paroled 
prisoners, 288-289 ; Lord Montagu 
offers British colonelcy to, 293 ; 
reply to Montagu letter, 294; on 
Colonel Hayne's case, 316 ; on 
John Rutledge as war Governor, 
319-320; exchanged for General 
Burgoyne, 324 ; on passing of 
Confiscation Act, 327 ; describes 
British evacuation, 334 ; on neglect 
of Marion's partisans, 335 ; de- 
scribes country and his return 
home after the war, 337-339; 
General Washington entertained 
at dinner by, 357 ; first State 
President of the Cincinnati, 362 ; 
Governor at time of French Revo- 



lution, 367 ; minuet performed by, 
395 ; death and burial-place of, 
400. 

Muirhead, bookseller, 405. 

Mulberry Castle, 50, 64-65, 191. 



N 



Nairne, Captain, 83 ; in expedition 
massacred by Indians, 62. 

Negroes, first importation of, 7 ; 
insurrection of, incited by Span- 
iards, 105; education of, 113-116; 
act passed in England compelling 
importation of, 145 ; numbers of 
in Colony, before Revolution, 164; 
deported to West Indies by Brit- 
ish, 260, 292-293, 334; numbers 
of, in individual households, 398- 
399 ; threatened insurrection of 
(1822), 437-440; efforts for reli- 
gious education of, 441-442 ; be- 
haviour of, during Confederate 
War, 503-504. 

Nesbit, Sir John, race ridden by, 
394. 

Newington, Blake residence, 89. 

New Market race-course, 129. 

Nicholson, General Sir Francis, Gov- 
ernor, 94-95 ; attention of, to 
military and religious affairs, 95- 
96 ; administration of, return to 
England, and death, 99-100 ; on 
establishment of printing-press, 
102-103. 

Nullification movement of 1832-33, 
450-455. 

Nursery and Botanic Garden, Wat- 
son's, 350, 406. 



Oaks plantation, the, 16. 

Occonostota, Indian chief, 139, 141, 
143. 

Oglethorpe, General, founds Georgia, 
101 ; visits Charleston, 102 ; sec- 
ond visit to Charleston and expe- 
dition against St. Augustine, 105- 
107. 



522 



INDEX 



"Old Bats, the," 140. 

Oldmixon, historian, quoted, 31, 32, 
49, 85. 

O'Neale, "Bench and Bar of South 
Carolina" by, quoted, 151-153, 
388. 

Orange Quarter, Huguenot settle- 
ment in, 22. 

Orphan House, Pitt statue in grounds 
of, 174-175 ; establishment of, 375. 

"Our Forefathers, "Mrs. Poyas', 397- 
398. 



Paine, Thomas, works of, circulated, 
224-225. 

Palmer, Captain (afterward Colonel), 
63, 107. 

Palmetto Regiment, the, 484. 

Parish system, establishment of, 
48—49 ; long existence and influ- 
ence of, 54. 

Parris family, 88. 

Parties, development of political, 
378-379. 

Pearce, Captain, commands vessels 
against St. Augustine, 106. 

Peronneau, Mrs. Arthur, 317, 319. 

Petigru, Mr., a Union State Rights 
man, 451, 453 ; leader of Charles- 
ton bar, 469-470 ; on sovereignty 
of the State, 488. 

Phelps, Paulina (Mrs. A. Campbell), 
297-299, 329. 

Philadelphia, Charlestonians exiled 
to, 320-324. 

Phillips, Eleazar, printer, 103. 

Pickens, Andrew, in Cherokee Indian 
war, 144. 

Pickens, Governor, 492. 

Pinckney, Colonel Charles, residence 
of, 130 ; a lawyer, planter, and 
statesman, father of Charles Cotes- 
worth and Thomas Pinckney, 146- 
147. 

Pinckney, Charles, cousin of C. C. 
Pinckney, 190 ; President of Pro- 
vincial Congress, 196 ; present at 
powder-seizing exploit, 199 ; re- 
signs presidency, 202. 



Pinckney, Charles, son of President 
(of Provincial Congress) Charles 
Pinckney, 354, 355. 

Pinckney, General Charles Cotes- 
worth, letters of, quoted, 146-148; 
portrait of, 172; marriage to Miss 
Middleton, 172 ; in the Haley de- 
fence, 183 ; member of Secret 
Committee, 197; chairman of 
committee to frame constitution, 
225; on Washington's staff, 253; 
fires on British fleet from Fort 
Moultrie, 266; letter written by, 
after capture of Charleston, 280- 
281 ; British offers to, 294 ; trustee 
of Charleston College, 348; Presi- 
dent-general of the Cincinnati, 
362; mission to France (1796), 
374 ; Castle Pinckney named for, 
374 ; annual compensation of, in 
practice of law, 401 ; as a botanist, 
404; on duelling, 410-411 ; Presi- 
dent-general of Cincinnati, 411 ; 
and La Fayette in 1825, 444; 
death of, 450. 

Pinckney, Mrs. C. C, evicted by 
British, 278. 

Pinckney, C. C, Jr., son of Thomas 
Pinckney, 440. 

Pinckney, Rev. Charles Cotesworth, 
grandson of Thomas Pinckney, 
441. 

Pinckney, Maria H., exposition of 
doctrine of State Rights by, 453. 

Pinckney, Miss, quoted, 94. 

Pinckney, Mrs., quoted, 112-113, 
114, 125, 128, 141, 198, 321-323. 

Pinckney, Thomas, first of family 
to come to Carolina, 146. 

Pinckney, General Thomas, 175; 
wounded at Camden, 282 ; second 
State President of Cincinnati, 362 ; 
correspondence of Washington 
with, when Minister to England, 
369-373 ; President-general of 
Cincinnati, 413 ; commissioned 
major-general in War of 1812, 417 ; 
and La Fayette in 1825, 444; 
death of, 450. 

Pinckney house, East Bay, destroyed 
by fire of 1861, 497. 



INDEX 



523 



Pinckney Island, 172 : collection of 
books at, 389. 

Pirates, early impunity of, 69-70 ; 
capture and trial of, 73-75, 76-78 ; 
results on position of Province 
relative to Proprietors, 79-80. 

Pirate's cave, the, 76. 

Pitt statue, 162, 173-175; loses arm 
from British shell, 267. 

Planters, condition of early, 16-17, 
91-94 ; busy life of, 131-133 ; in- 
fluential position of, in Revolu- 
tionary period, 189-193 ; scheme 
of life of, in early nineteenth cen- 
tury, 384-386 ; usefulness of fac- 
tors to, 404-405. 

Planters' Hotel, 461. 

Plowden, Francis, death of, 41. 

Poinsett, Joel R., President Monroe 
breakfasts with, 426; description 
of, and of breakfasts, 430-432; 
a Union State Rights man, 451 ; 
Jackson's letters to, on Nullifica- 
tion, 454 ; quoted concerning 
Collectorship of Port, 466 ; ad- 
dresses famous literary club of 
Charleston, 475. 

Polony, Dr., St. Domingo refugee, 
366. 

Port Royal, Scots settle at, 26; 
massacre of Scots at, 29 ; taking 
of, in Confederate war, 496. 

Pounds "sterling" vs. pounds "cur- 
rency," 102. 

Powder, seizure of, by patriots 
(1776), 199; seizure of, from 
Royal ship, 208-209. 

Powder Magazine, the old, 18. 

Poyas, Mrs., "The Ancient Lady," 
397. 

Presbyterians, White Meeting House 
built by, 20;. treatment of, by 
British, 300 ; become a large and 
influential sect, 403. 

Press in Carolina, 102-103. 

PreVost, General, marches into Caro- 
lina, 255-256 ; held before Charles- 
ton by Rutledge's tactics, but es- 
capes, 256-258; lays waste the 
country, 260-261; the "torch" 
of, a by-word, 261. 



Primogeniture, passing of, 345-346. 
Prince George Winyah parish, 95. 
Pringle, James R., a Union State 

Rights man, 451. 
Pringle, John Julius, 382 ; income of, 

from law practice, 401. 
Pringle, Mrs. John Julius, marriage of, 

to Mr. Poinsett, 432. 
Pringle, Robert, 94 ; brick house of, 

116, 130, 170, 171; an associate 

justice, 160. 
Pringle, William Bull, 437. 
Pringle, Mrs., warned by dream, 

408-409. 
Pringle house, Tradd St., 116, 171. 
Pringle house, King St., 130, 170, 

437. 
Printing-press, the first, 102-103. 
Prioleau, Elias, Huguenot pastor, 33, 

99, 291. 
Prioleau, Judge, Intendant, 444. 
Prioleau, Philip, 291. 
Prioleau, Colonel Samuel, 99 ; letter 

of, 290-291. 
Prioleau, Mrs. Samuel, 324. 
Provincial Library, the, 54-55. 
Provost, prison known as the, 278- 

279. 
Pulaski, Count, helps to defend 

Charleston, 256, 258. 
Purcell, Dr., rector of St. Michael's, 

363, 402. 
Pury, Peter, 53-54. 



Quakers, Meeting House built by, 20. 
Quarry, Colonel, acting Governor, 28. 
Quincy, Josiah, in Charleston, 179- 
182. 



R 



Raccoon Riflemen, the, 233. 
Races, 129-130, 385-386, 391-392, 

461 ; Josiah Quincy attends, 182. 
Radcliffe, Mrs., 422. 
Railroads, coming of, 458-459. 
Ramsay, David, 411. 
Ramsay, Dr., historian, references to, 

91, 101, 123, 227, 293, 323, 343, 



524 



INDEX 



345, 378, 389, 403 ; among patriots 
deported to St. Augustine, 288. 

Ramsay, Mrs., daughter of Henry- 
Laurens, 390. 

Randolph, Edward, collector of 
customs, 70. 

Randolph, John, race ridden by, 394. 

Rattlesnake flag, 246. 

Ravenel, Daniel, 64. 

Ravenel, Daniel, of Wantoot, 311. 

Ravenel, H. E., 307. 

Ravenel, Mrs., of Chelsea, 309. 

"Ravenel Record," cited, 307. 

Rawdon, Lord, Colonel Hayne exe- 
cuted by, 317-318. 

Read, Dr. William, 411, 414. 

Rhett, Colonel Alfred, 498. 

Rhett, Colonel William, 37, 45; in 
force levied against Spanish- French 
expedition, 50 ; capture of pirates 
by, 72-73 ; quarrels of, with Gov- 
ernor Nicholson, and death, 95, 
107 ; a granddaughter of (Mrs. 
Thomas Smith), 406. 

Rhett, R. G., 172. 

Rhett family, 25. 

Ribault, Sieur Jean, 2. 

Rice, growth and export of, 91-92. 

Richardson, Richard, 226. 

Ridley, Sir Matthew, 172. 

Ripley, General, 492, 497. 

Risbee, Colonel, Church Act intro- 
duced by, 44. 

Rising Sun, wreck of the, 36. 

Robert, Huguenot pastor, 208. 

Roberts, Owen, major of 1st Regi- 
ment, 208 ; in charge of work of 
building Fort Moultrie, 223 ; killed 
in battle, 262. 

Rocksanna, race-horse, 392. 

Roupell, George, postmaster, 172. 

Roupell, Polly, Royalist belle, 296- 
297; in later years, 393-394. 

Roupell house, 286. 

Ruins, the, Sumter place, 284-285. 

Runnymede, Mr. Pringle's place, 382- 
383. 

Rutledge, Andrew, defends Whitfield, 
110. 

Rutledge, Edward, at school in 
England, 148; brother's letter to, 



quoted, 151-153 ; in the Haley 
defence, 183 ; delegate to Conti- 
nental Congress, 185, 193-194; 
reelected to Continental Congress, 
228 ; captain in Artillery Battalion, 
261 ; captured by British, 269-270 ; 
deported to St. Augustine, 288 ; 
death and place of burial of, 400; 
lucrative law practice of, 401. 

Rutledge, Mrs. Frederick, 475. 

Rutledge, Harriott Pinckney (Mrs. 
Holbrook), 475-479. 

Rutledge, Henry, 160. 

Rutledge, Hugh, 148; chancellor of 
Charleston College, 348. 

Rutledge, John, at school in England, 
148; letter of, to Edward Rut- 
ledge, quoted, 151-153; delegate 
to Congress in New York, 161 ; resi- 
dence of, 172 ; in the Haley de- 
fence, 183 ; preamble to South 
Carolina constitution written by, 
225 ; made President of South 
Carolina, 226-227; directions to 
Moultrie before battle of Fort 
Moultrie, 238 ; visits Fort Moultrie 
after battle, 246 ; reception of 
Declaration of Independence and 
of Constitution by, 250-251 ; Gov- 
ernor under a new constitution, 
255 ; tries to entrap PreVost's 
force by parleyings, 257-259 ; 
attitude during siege of Charleston, 
267 ; persuaded to leave city, 268 ; 
supreme importance of, during 
war, 319-320; summons Legisla- 
ture to meet at Jacksonboro, 325 ; 
made chief justice, 327; resigns 
governorship, 327-328 ; plan for 
central college by, 387 ; death and 
grave of, 400. 

Rutledge, Mrs. John, Washington 
breakfasts at home of, 356. 

Rutledge house, Tradd St., de- 
stroyed by fire of 1861, 497. 

Rybenau, Mr., and bells of St. 
Michael's, 330, 345. 



S 



St. Andrew's Society, 120. 



INDEX 



525 



St. Augustine, Spaniards from, raid 
the Carolina settlements, 28-30 ; 
Moore's expedition against, 39- 
40 ; Yemassee Indians encouraged 
in war against Carolina by Spanish 
at, 61, 67-68; negroes incited to 
insurrection from, 105 ; General 
Oglethorpe's expedition against, 
105-107; British deport Charleston 
patriots on parole to, 288-291 ; 
second lot of exiles to, 295-296. 

St. Cecilia Society, concerts and balls 
of, 179, 180, 385, 426-430. 

St. Domingans in Charleston, 365- 
366 ; gravestones of, in St. Mary's 
churchyard, 403. 

St. Domingo, massacre of, 365. 

St. George's Society, 120. 

St. James Santee, church of, 49. 

St. James's Church, Goose Creek, 58. 

St. John's Berkeley Church, 90. 

St. Julien, Pierre de, 46. 

St. Julien, Miss (Mrs. Moultrie), 191. 

St. Julien family, 88. 

St. Mary's (Catholic) Church, 402- 
403. 

St. Michael's Church, erection of, 99 ; 
opening of, 154-155 ; altar plate of, 
155-156 ; fire signals from steeple 
of, 235-236; pastor of, Rev. Mr. 
Cooper, proves a Loyalist, 249- 
250 ; congregation of, during Revo- 
lution, 300; robbed by British, 
330, 332-333; Washington at- 
tends service at, 357 ; John Rut- 
ledge's grave in churchyard of, 400 ; 
innovations at, 402 ; injuries to, 
during Confederate war, 502-503. 

St. Michael's Church bells, 155; 
tolled on passing of Stamp Act, 
158 ; shipped to England by British, 
330 ; returned to Charleston, 345 ; 
fate of, during Confederate war, 
505. 

St. Paul's Church, 422. 

St. Philip's Church (first), building 
of, 18-20. 

St. Philip's Church (second), 96-99 ; 
strict division of dues and duties 
between St. Michael's and, 156 ; 
Washington attends service at, 357 ; 



saved from burning by negro sailor, 
375 ; noted patriots buried in 
churchyard of, 400; burning of, 
482-484. 

St. Philip's Church (third), injuries 
to, during Confederate war, 502 ; 
bells of, converted into guns, 505. 

Sandford, Robert, explorer, 2-3. 

Santee River, Huguenot settlers on, 
22, 49. 

Sanute, Yemassee chief, 61-62. 

Sayle, William, first Governor in 
Carolina, 3, 4. 

Saxby, stamp distributer, 160. 

Schenking, early colonist, 16. 

Schinkins plantation, 64 ; fights with 
Indians at, 65. 

School, first free, 54. 

School for Medicine, 422. 

Schools, growth of, in Charleston, 
123-124; education in English, 
146-154; established by St. Do- 
mingo refugees, 365. 

Scots, colony of, in Carolina, 26-27 ; 
massacre of, by Spanish, 29 ; 
wreck of, in hurricane of 1699, 
36. 

Scott, Captain, 2d Regiment, 218. 

Seabrook, captain in force levied 
against Spanish-French, 50. 

Seabrook, La Fayette (Mme. de 
Lasteyrie), 449. 

Seabrook, William, La Fayette's 
visit to, 449. 

"Seated" rivers, 86. 

Secret Committee of General Assem- 
bly (1776), 197; powder and arms 
seized from British authorities by, 
199-200. 

Serrurier family, 88. 

Servants, numbers of negro, in indi- 
vidual households, 398-399. 

Shaw, Mrs., daughter of General 
Greene, 445. 

Shubrick, Admiral W. B., 410. 

Shubrick, Captain Edward Rutledge, 
410. 

Shubrick, Captain Templer, 410. 

Shubrick, Captain Thomas, horse- 
capturing exploit of, 260-261 ; 
saves John Laurens' life, 261-262. 



526 



INDEX 



Shubrick, Colonel, 94. 

Shubrick, Mrs. Richard, sits beside 
Washington at dinner, 356. 

Shubrick, Mrs. Thomas, heroism of, 
302 ; warning given to, in dream, 
409-410. 

Silk Hope plantation, 221. 

Simms, William Gilmore, 296, 303. 

Simons, James, 364. 

Singleton, Thomas, 303-304. 

Sinkler, Peter, fate of, 308. 

Skene, Mrs., 114. 

Skinner, Chief Justice, 159-160. 

Skrine family, 88. 

Slaves, threatened insurrection of 
(1822), 437-440. See Negroes. 

Smallpox, epidemic of, 35. 

Smith, Benjamin, appointed asso- 
ciate justice by Governor Bull, 160 ; 
historic letter written by, during 
siege of Charleston, 270. 

Smith, Claudia (Mrs. Henry Izard), 
356-357. 

Smith, Joseph Allen, 469. 

Smith, Rev. Josiah, defends Whit- 
field against Commissary Garden, 
113; home of, 169; sermon to 
members of Commons, 197-198 ; 
biographical notice of, 229 ; dis- 
possessed and exiled, 300 ; founds 
Charleston College, 346-348; a 
member of the Cincinnati, 363 ; 
death of, 400 ; his consecration as 
Bishop, 401-402. 

Smith, Roger, member of Governor 
Rutledge's Council, 257. 

Smith, Thomas, early colonist, 16. 

Smith, Thomas, second Landgrave, 
89. 

Smith, Mrs. Thomas, 406. 

Smith homestead, Goose Creek, 169. 

Snell, Susannah (Mrs. John Colleton), 
90. 

South Carolina Coffee House, 183. 

South Carolina Society, origins of, 
119-120. 

Spanish, raid of, in Carolina, 28-29. 

Spanish-French attack on Carolina, 
49-52. 

Stamp Act, agitation caused by, 
157-162. 



"States" as a Christian name for a 
thirteenth child, 364. 

Stevens, General Clement H., 491. 

Stobo, Rev. Archibald, 36. 

Stono, Indian fight near, 66 ; so-called 
battle of, 260 ; battles about, in 
Confederate war, 498. 

Stoutenburgh, Mr., 148. 

Stuart, John, Indian agent, 143-144 ; 
house which was built by, 172, 286. 

Sully, artist, a native Carolinian, 466. 

Sumter, General, British burn house 
of, 284; commissioned by Gov- 
ernor Rutledge, 285 ; scene of ac- 
tivities of, 287. 

Superstitions, 406-409. 

Suppers, description of, 396; of 
St. Cecilia Society, 430. 



Talvande, Madame de, 365. 

Tappy, building material, 18, 262, 
264. 

Tarleton, Colonel, 264, 269, 278, 282, 
307 ; raids of, 283, 308, 391 ; and 
William Washington, 302; horses 
captured by, 391. 

Tastet, M., dancing-master, 366. 

Tea, question of, in Revolutionary 
Charleston, 184-189. 

Teasdale, John, 329-330, 344. 

Tennant, Rev. Mr., 210. 

Theatres, the first, 128; from 1840 
to 1860, 468. 

Thomas, Rev. Samuel, 55-57, 113- 
114. 

Thomas, Samuel, quoted, 373, 383. 

Thompson, Colonel Moses ("Old 
Danger"), 233, 234, 240; story 
of wife and daughter of, 304-305. 

Tide-water rice, 343. 

Tidyman, Mrs., Royalist lady, 297. 

Timoth6e (Timothy), Louis, editor of 
Gazette, 102. 

Timothy family, 102. 

Tobacco St., derivation of name, 303. 

Tories, treatment of, after Revolu- 
tion, 325-327. 

Tory row, 172. 

"Traditions of the American Revo- 



INDEX 



527 



lution," Johnson's, cited, 159, 163, 

183. 
Traille, Major, seizes bells of St. 

Michael's, 330. 
Trapier, Miss, 198; letter from Mrs. 

Horry to, 221-222. 
Trapier, Paul, 148 ; commandant at 

Georgetown, 222. 
Trott, Nicholas, 37; Chief Justice, 

45 ; trial of pirates by, 74-75, 78 ; 

double-dealing of, with Carolinians, 

80; codification of laws by, 102- 

103 ; marries Colonel Rhett's 

widow, 107; death and obituary 

of, 108. 
Trott family, 25. 
Trouillard, F. P., Huguenot pastor, 

33. 
Tufts, Captain Simon, 218. 
Turbeville, Fortescue, 59. 
Turnbull, Robert J. ("Brutus"), 

451, 452, 480; death and funeral 

obsequies of, 457. 
Turquand, Rev. Paul, 219. 
Tuscarora Indians, outbreak and 

defeat of, 60-61. 
Two-bit Club, the, 119-120. 
Tynte, Governor, 59. 



U 



Union State Rights men (Unionists) 
vs. "Nullifyers," 451-455. 

Unitarian Church, establishment of, 
in Charleston, 424. 



Vander Dussen, colonel against St. 

Augustine, 107. 
Vander Horst, General, 348, 355. 
Van Rhyn, Miss, 466-468. 
Verrees, Miss (Mrs. John Teasdale), 

329. 
Vesey, Denmark, 437-438. 
"View of Carolina," Ashe's, 17. 

W 

Wadboo Barony, 89. 
Waheewah Barony, 32, 89. 



Wantoot plantation, 64. 

Waring family, 88. 

Washington, George, made com- 
mander-in-chief, 209 ; C. C. Pinck- 
ney and John Laurens on staff of, 
253 ; held defence of Charleston 
to be a mistake, 264; visit to 
Charleston in 1791, 352-357; por- 
trait of, presented to city, 357-358; 
first President-general of Cin- 
cinnati, 360; and Citizen Genet, 
367 ; popularity undergoes strain 
from Jay treaty, 368 ; attitude on 
question of La Fayette and Ameri- 
can neutrality, 369-373. 

Washington, Colonel William, 264- 
265 ; Tarleton vs., 302 ; house of, 
on Church St., 406. 

Washington, Mrs. William, La Fay- 
ette visits, 445. 

Watson, John, English gardener, 158, 
350. 

Watson's Botanic Garden, 350, 406. 

Weems, Rev. Mr., "Life of Marion" 
by, 384. 

Wells, Robert, bookseller, 123. 

Wesley, Charles, in Charleston, 109. 

West, Governor, 12 ; settlement of 
Charleston supervised by, 13. 

Weyman, Edward, member of Secret 
Committee, 197. 

Whipple, Commodore, weak conduct 
of, at defence of Charleston, 263. 

White Meeting House, the, 20 ; turned 
into a granary by British, 300 ; 
replaced by the Circular Church, 
423. 

Whitfield, Rev. George, in Carolina, 
109-110. 

Wigs, the period of, 397. 

Wilkinson, Mrs., letters of, 390. 

Williamson, General, turncoat, 315- 
316. 

Wilson, John Lyde, Code of Honour 
by, 411-412. 

Woodward, -Henry, surgeon accom- 
panying first colonists, 4-5. 

Woodward, explorer, 38. 

Worley, Richard, pirate, 77. 

Wragg, Mr., planter-merchant, 94. 

Wragg, Samuel, captive of pirates, 71. 



528 



INDEX 



Wragg, William, 94 ; attitude on 
Stamp Act question, 162; gives 
support to Lieutenant-governor 
Bull, 192-193; shipped out of 
Province as a Royalist, and 
drowned at sea, 211-212; monu- 
ment to, in Westminster Abbey, 
212. 

Wragg Barony, 94. 

Wright, Captain, in expedition against 
St. Augustine, 106. 

Wright, Royal Governor of Georgia, 
208, 213. 



Yeamans, Sir John, Governor, 7; 

takes steps toward settlement of 

present Charleston, 10 ; removal of, 

11. 
Yeamans, Lady Margaret, 11. 
Yeamans, Miss, married to James 

Moore, 37. 
Yellow fever, epidemic of, 35; of 

1706, 50. 
Yemassee Indian war, 61-68. 
York race-course, 129. 



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With more than One Hundred Illustrations 

Cloth Demy 8vo 

In this delightful book the author of "The Right of Way" has told sympatheti- 
cally the story of his chosen city from the earliest times to the present day. It is a 
picturesque and honorable chronicle. Americans who make even a brief sojourn 
in that most individual of Canadian cities feel the effective and potent spell which it 
casts on all who have lived within its curious limits. Many of the episodes and 
incidents in its histoiy are dramatically effective; and through good use of these 
episodes in its founding, in its struggles, and in its intimate connection with the 
most stirring period in the history of the continent, the author has been enabled to 
write a charming book. The humor and tragedy of Canadian life have long been 
Sir Gilbert Parker's especial field. No better writer could have been chosen to 
describe a city with so romantic a history as Quebec. No one knows its people 
better than he. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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